32 
The  Kola  Nut. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm^ 
I    January,  1895. 
"  A  preliminary  analysis  of  Cactus  grandiflorus,"  in  which  the 
author  decides  "glucosides  and  alkaloids  are  absent  "  in  the  plant. 
This  disposition  of  a  mooted  question  is  effective.  Over  three 
years  ago  I  was  engaged  in  a  similar  investigation.  I  beg  leave  to 
refer  you  to  a  Note  on  Cactus,  written  in  August,  189 1.1  A  certain 
Dr.  O.  D.  Deyer  stated  that  he  had  isolated  the  active  principle  of 
Cereus  grandiflorus,  and  employed  it  in  constant  and  definite  quan- 
tities, {New  York  Medical  Journal,  for  June  13,  1891).  It  is  not 
uncommon  that  substances  are  found  by  amateur  chemists  which  do 
not  exist;  that  could  not  have  been  found  if  their  method  of  inves- 
tigation was  correct,  or  substances  that  are  of  an  entirely  different 
nature  from  the  supposed  and  claimed  one.  Impurity  of  reagents, 
ignorance  of  the  operators,  lack  of  a  good  scientific  foundation, 
often  come  together  in  those  discoveries. 
To  general  methods  of  plant  analysis,  fluid  extract  of  Cereus 
grandiflorus  did  not  yield  to  me  an  alkaloid.  These  methods  included 
"characteristics  for  many  glucosides,"  I  worked  in  1 891  on  plants 
obtained  here. 
Yours  truly, 
J.  B.  Nagelvoort. 
Detroit,  December  10,  1894. 
THE  KOLA  NUT. 
The  following  information  concerning  this  drug  has  just  appeared 
in  Consular  Report,  Vol.  46,  No.  171,  page  532. 
The  Department  on  August  18,  1894,  instructed  the  consuls  at 
Bathurst,  Goree-Dakar,  Monrovia,  Mozambique,  Sierra  Leone, 
Tamatave,  and  Zanzibar  to  investigate  and  report  upon  the  kola  nut 
in  their  respective  districts — its  cultivation,  the  trade  therein,  and  its 
ascertained  value  as  a  substitute  for  ordinary  food. 
The  following  reports  from  the  consuls  at  Sierra  Leone,  Tamatave, 
and  Zanzibar,  are  in  reply  to  the  foregoing  instructions.  No  replies 
have  been  received  from  the  consuls  at  the  other  places;  when 
received,  they  will  be  published  at  once. 
1  Bulletin  of  Pharmacy,  1891,  p.  354. 
