Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  > 
Sept.  1, 1871.  S 
Clearing  Nuts. 
413 
nomical  purposes.  The  seed  is  broadly  lenticular,  about  half  an  inch 
in  diameter  and  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  thickness  ;  of  a  dirty  whitish 
grey  color,  and  covered  with  a  thick  coating  of  delicate  appressed 
hairs.  These  hairs  are  in  bundles  of  from  three  to  six,  agglutinated 
together  longitudinally  ;  but  when  separated  each  hair  is  seen  to  be  a 
simple,  pointed,  cylindrical  cell.  To  the  naked  eye,  the  surface  of 
the  seeds  appears  to  be  mealy  rather  than  hairy. 
The  seeds  in  powder,  mixed  with  honey,  are  applied  to  boils  to 
hasten  suppuration  ;  also  with  milk  in  sore  eyes.  When  used  as  an 
emetic  in  southern  India,  the  seeds  are  given  in  powder.  Dr.  Kirk- 
patrick  says  that  the  seeds  are  employed  as  a  remedy  in  diabetes ; 
and  they  are  mentioned  in  the  Taleef  Shereef  as  useful  in  gonorrhoea, 
etc.  Their  chief  use,  however,  consists  in  their  application  to  the 
clearing  of  muddy  water. 
It  is  not  so  much  the  seed  as  the  pericarp  that  commends  itself  to 
our  notice.  The  former  is  not  employed  medicinally,  whilst  the  latter 
is  in  common  use  amongst  the  natives  as  an  emetic. 
The  use  of  the  fruit  as  an  emetic  seems  to  have  been  wholly  con- 
fined to  the  native  practitioners.  It  has  been  supposed  that  the 
reason  why  it  has  never  acquired  repute  is  the  improper  way  in  which 
it  is  administered.  The  whole  fruit  is  generally  powdered,  and  given 
in  about  half  a  teaspoonful  doses.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that 
failure  should  take  place,  since  the  large  seeds  are  not  emetic,  the  dry 
pulp  of  the  fruit  and  the  pericarp  alone  possessing  that  property.  If 
these  are  used  separately,  the  result  is  said  to  be  very  satisfactory. 
When  sold  separately,  the  emetic  portion  of  the  fruit  is  found  in 
the  bazaars  in  two  conditions.  In  one  condition  it  is  in  thin,  scaly, 
and  shell-like  pieces,  which  are  shining  externally,  and  of  a  greenish- 
or  yellowish-brown  color.  This  is  the  pericarp  removed  when  the 
fruit  is  dry.  In  the  other  condition  it  is  formed  together  with  the 
mucus  into  large  balls  or  masses  weighing  about  one  pound.  In  this 
condition  it  contains  a  large  quantity  of  dry  mucus,  and  is  much 
superior  in  action  to  the  other  form.  Mr.  Moodeen  Sheriff  states  that 
the  dry  mucus  appears  to  be  more  efficacious  in  dysentery  than  ipeca- 
cuanha. 
The  dose  of  the  simple  powder  of  the  pericarp,  prepared  in  the 
usual  way,  and  kept  in  a  stoppered  bottle,  is  from  40  to  50  grains 
as  an  emetic,  and  from  15  to  30  in  dysentery. — London  Fharm, 
Journ.y  July  15,  1871. 
