104  The  ApocynacecB  in  Materia  Mcdica.  {AJfe£SS^SKB" 
The  Seeds  of  the  Tanghin. — The  celebrated  ordeal  poison  of 
Madagascar,  the  Tanghin  is  furnished  by  the  Tanghinia  vcnenifera 
Poir.  [Cerbera  Tanghin,  Hook.  Ccrbera  venenifera  Stend.,  Tanghinin 
veneniflua  Boj.,  T  madagascaricnsis  Dup. — Th.Y  The  tree  inhabits 
Madagascar,  especially  the  forests  of  the  north  and  the  eastern  sides 
of  the  island.  It  is  cultivated  in  the  hot-houses  of  Europe,  but  has 
not  fructified.  It  attains  a  height  of  ten  metres.  A  bluish-white 
latex,  very  poisonous,  abounds  in  all  parts  of  the  tree.  The  fruit 
and  seeds  are  the  only  parts  employed.  The  leaves  are  remarkable 
for  their  elongated  shape,  lengthily  acuminate,  their  soft  consistence 
and  the  black  color  which  they  assume  in  alcohol  or  by  drying. 
The  fruit  is  a  drupe,  in  the  fresh  state  yellow  or  reddish,  shaped 
like  an  egg  or  a  peach,  and  in  which  the  external  region  is  a  fleshy 
sarcocarp,  fibrous  and  includes  a  ligneous,  stony  endocarp,  which 
contains  a  single  kernel.  The  shell  resembles  in  form  and  appear- 
ance of  the  surface  that  of  an  almond. 
The  structure  of  the  seed  is  analogous  to  that  of  Tlievetia. 
The  toxicity  of  the  kernel  of  the  Tanghin  is  such  that  a  single 
seed  suffices  to  cause  the  death  of  a  number  of  persons,  according 
to  some,  as  many  as  twenty.  This  kernel  is  frequently  employed 
in  its  native  country  for  the  poisoning  of  criminals  and  the  heads  of 
the  arrows  are  likewise  frequently  coated  with  the  poison.  But  the 
reputation  of  Tanghin  comes  especially  from  its  use  as  a  legal  poison 
in  the  ordeals  or  judicial  trials. 
The  first  physiological  experiments  were  by  Ollivier,  who  ranks 
the  poison  with  the  acrid  narcotics.  Then  Pelikan  and  Kolliker,  who 
employed  the  leaves  and  dry  branches,  concluded  that  there  was  a 
muscular  action,  and  at  the  same  time,  or  even  before,  a  nervous 
action.  J.  Chatin,  in  1873,  admits,  as  a  result  of  his  experiments 
with  the  kernels,  that  it  destroys  the  muscular  irritability  without 
reaching  directly  the  nervous  system.  It  is  a  paralyzer  of  the  heart, 
acting  equally  byway  of  the  stomach,  or  subcutaneously  ;  more 
quickly  by  the  latter  way.  The  effects  are  obtained  on  the  inverte- 
brate animals  likewise. 
[To  be  Continued.} 
