624 
Brazilian  Drugs. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\      Dec,  1884. 
bean,  and  the  orange  yellow  arillus  surrounding  the  seed  being  free 
from  odor. 
Fructo  de  Cujete  (Cresentia  Cujete,  L.). — The  pulp  of  the  unripe 
fruit  is  beaten  with  sugar  and  taken  in  teaspoonful  doses  as  a  remedy 
for  catarrh  and  bilious  fever,  and  the  expressed  juice  in  doses  of  8-15 
grams  in  the  treatment  of  convulsions.  In  the  province  of  Pernam- 
buco  the  full  grown  unripe  fruit  is  heated  over  a  fire  until  the  shell 
begins  to  crack,  and  the  pulp  then  removed,  or  squeezed  out  while  hot, 
and  given  in  doses  of  two  spoonfuls  for  traumatic  tetanus.  The 
herbalists  mix  the  heated  mass  with  tapioca  meal  and  make  it  into 
pills,  or  rather  boluses,  which  they  give  for  elephantiasis.  Externally, 
it  is  applied  to  ruptures,  and  as  a  poultice  for  headache,  bruises,  scalds, 
and  to  ripen  boils.  The  seeds  are  also  used  by  the  common  people  as 
a  tsenifuge.  The  not  pleasant  pulp  of  the  ripe  fruit  is  eaten  by  negroes 
and  Indians  without  unpleasant  results.  With  the  juice  of  the  ripe 
fruit  a  cough  linctus  is  prepared.  The  pulp,  on  examination  was 
found  to  contain  malic,  tartaric  and  crescentinic  acids,  a  tannin  giving 
a  green  color  with  salts  of  iron,  a  bitter  substance,  brown  resin,  etc.  j 
a  kilogram  of  the  fresh  unripe  fruit  afforded  292*700  grams  of  juice, 
which  yielded  1*690  gram  of  crescentinic  acid  crystallized  in  four-sided 
prisms  from  the  alcoholic  solution.  The  seeds  contain  an  acrid,  bitter, 
fat  oil. 
Jaca  (Thevetia  neriifolia,  Juss.  Apocynacece.). — One  kernel  eaten,  or 
pounded  with  milk  and  drunk,  acts  as  a  purgative  in  about  a  quarter 
of  an  hour ;  sometimes  also  producing  vomiting.  The  usual  dose  as 
a  purgative  is  half  a  seed,  in  rheumatism  and  dropsy.  It  is  also  a 
popular  remedy  for  snake  bites.  Two  seeds  are  beaten  with  a  beer- 
glassful  of  rum  and  strained,  and  a  tumblerful  taken  every  half-hour 
or  hour  and  the  residue  applied  to  the  wound.  It  is  now,  however, 
becoming  supplanted  by  the  subcutaneous  injection  of  permanganate 
of  potash:  Notwithstanding  that  the  activity  of  this  antidote  is  doubted 
in  Europe  Mr.  Peckolt  says  that  in  Brazil  there  is  almost  daily  proof 
of  its  distinct  efficacy. 
Fructo  de  Papagaio  (3Iahonia  sp.  ?) — In  the  province  of  Minas, 
this  fruit  is  called  "  Moribo,"  and  in  San  Paulo  "  Mol'uro."  It  is  a 
popular  remedy  for  gonorrhoea.    Parrots  are  very  fond  of  the  fruit. 
Fructo  de  Peroba  (Aspidosperma  Peroba,  Tr.  Allen.  Apocynacece). — 
The  seeds  are  used  as  a  purgative. 
Laranjas  de  Mato  {Gardenia  suaveolens,  Veil.  Cinchonaceoi). — The  • 
