Chemical examination and physiological action of nutmeg / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway.

  • Power, Frederick B. (Frederick Belding), 1853-1927.
Date:
[1908?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Chemical examination and physiological action of nutmeg / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/22 (page 578)
    tion of the liver. In another case, in which io grammes of nutmeg were given, no effect except slight malaise and some salivation could be observed until the third day after administration, when the cat was found in a state of very deep coma, and shortly afterward died. Another cat, to which 5 grammes of nutmeg were given, died on the morning of the fourth day after administration. The liver again showed marked fatty degeneration, and the urine con¬ tained much bile and a little albumin. The kidneys were not notice¬ ably abnormal. In connection with the above results it may be noted that the dog appears to be comparatively insensitive to the toxic action of nutmeg, since doses amounting to as much as 20 grammes of the substance, and even 10 c.c. of myristicin, have been given by the mouth to this animal without any perceptible effect. Injections of the essential oil and of myristicin intravenously did, indeed, cause acute symptoms of incoordination and, in some instances, complete unconsciousness; but the value of such observations is seriously diminished by the consideration that the insoluble oil will produce multiple emboli, certainly in the lungs, and possibly also in the cerebral capillaries, insofar as it passes into the lungs and gets into the general circu¬ lation. Pulmonary hemorrhage was actually the cause of death in these cases. With regard to the action of myristicin, C11H12Oa, the high-boil¬ ing constituent of the essential oil of nutmeg, to which, in accord¬ ance with the observations of Wallace, the narcotic effects produced by nutmeg are attributed by Cushny, as also independently by Jiirss (loc. cit.), the following experiments may be noted. Quantities of myristicin which were appreciably greater than the amount of this substance contained in a toxic dose of nutmeg, for example, 0.1 to 0.2 c.c., when given by the mouth to a cat, produced no apparent effect. A dose of 1 c.c. of myristicin, however, produced results which were not dissimilar to those produced by 5 to 10 grammes of nutmeg. Thus a cat to which 1 c.c. of myristicin was given by the mouth survived without marked symptoms until the third day after administration, when it was found lying in a semi¬ conscious condition. The fatty degeneration of the liver, and stain¬ ing of the urine and all the tissues with bile pigment, were the only noticeable abnormalities post mortem. Another cat, to which an equal dose was given, survived until the seventh day after adminis¬ tration, but the changes observed post mortem were similar in character to those above described.