28  '       The  Kola-Nut  Tree.  {^"^-^^^u'^m"'^' 
digestion^  and  to  render  those  using  them  capable  of  prolonged  fatigue. 
The  negroes  prefer  them  to  tea  or  coifee,  and  when  they  can  obtain 
Kola  nuts,  will  not  touch  coffee.  Dr.  Daniell  says  of  them  :  It 
would  be  difficult  to  find  any  product  which  constitutes  such  an 
important  article  of  commerce  in  Soudan  as  the  Kola  nut.^^  Wherever 
the  negro  has  been  transplanted  to  a  foreign  country  he  has  taken  the 
Kola  nut  with  him. 
As  a  medium  of  exchange  for  the  products  of  Central  Africa  no 
article  could  be  more  advantageous,  and  on  this  account  alone  the  tree 
will  well  repay  cultivation.  Moreover,  if  once  introduced  as  a 
beverage  in  civilized  countries,  the  demand  for  it  would  soon  become 
enormous. 
I  have  recently  been  informed  by  Mr.  Espeut,  a  well-known  sugar 
planter  of  Jamaica,  that  the  negroes  use  the  Kola  nut  as  a  remedy  for 
drunkenness;  that  swallowing  a  single  nui,  ground  up  and  made  into 
cream  or  paste  with  water  or  spirit,  no  sign  of  intoxication  remains 
half-an-hour  afterwards. 
Confirmatory  evidence  of  this  property  in  the  Kola  nut  is  given  by 
a  surgeon,  Mr.  Papefio,  who  tells  me  that  alcoholic  drinks  do  not 
produce  intoxicating  effects  when  the  Kola  nut  is  eaten  at  the  same 
time. 
It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  craving  for  drink,  which  is  such  a 
strong  incentive  to  drunkenness,  may  be  subdued  by  the  use  of  this 
valuable  stimulant  and  tonic,  as  after  chewing  Kola  nut  great  disin- 
clination is  felt  to  all  forms  of  alcDhol.  It  has  also  been  found  to 
possess  a  beneficial  action  on  the  liver,  its  continual  use  preventing 
attacks  of  despondency  to  which  negroes  are  peculiarly  liable.  Dr» 
Daniell  records  a  case  of  this  kind,  in  which  the  Kola  nut  put  a  stop 
to  an  epidemic  of  suicidal  mania,  which  threatened  at  one  time  to 
depopulate  the  estate  on  which  it  occurred. 
It  is  also  used  by  the  natives  wdien  in  a  low  state  of  health,  suflPering 
fron^i  the  skin  cracking  and  peeling  on  the  hands  and  feet. 
I  have  just  received  from  a  native  gentleman  on  the  west  coast  of 
Africa  a  fair  quantity  of  fruit  in  splendid  order,  as  fresh  as  if  just 
gathered  from  the  tree. 
Planters  will  be  able  to  send  them  off  for  seed  at  once  to  their  estates. 
Some  have  been  sent  to  the  leading  medical  men  in  London  for 
further  experiment,  and  I  am  endeavoring  to  ascertain  the  best  plan  of 
preserving  their  medicinal  properties. —  Chemists'  Journal. 
