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.

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    Mahometan physicians have been confirmed by Bontius, Rumphius, Lobel, Schmid, and Cullen, and more recent experiments upon man and animals agree in showing that they have a narcotic and intoxi¬ cating action. In a case related by Cullen, two drachms of powdered nutmeg produced drowsiness, which gradually increased to complete stupor and insensibility. The patient continued for several hours alternately delirious and sleeping, but ultimately recovered.” The above general statements concerning the narcotic action of nut¬ meg are fully confirmed by the numerous cases of “ nutmeg poison¬ ing ” which have been recorded in the medical literature of more recent times, among which the following few references may be cited: The Lancet, April 12, 1902, p. 1035; Squibb’s Ephemeris of Materia Medica, etc., Vol. VII, 1904, p. 243; The British Medical Journal, 1906, pp. 539, 778, 900, 984; Chem. Zeit. Rep., Feb. 12, 1908, p. 79, from Deutsch. med. Wochenschrift, 1907, Bd. 33, p. 2001; Cushny, in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, Therapeutical and Pharmacological Section, 1908, Vol. I, pp. 39-44. With regard to the constituent of the nutmeg to which its nar¬ cotic effects may be attributed, the following statement in the “ United States Dispensatory,” nineteenth edition, p. 799, is of interest: “ Dr. H. C. Wood found in experiments upon the lower animals that the oil of nutmeg is a powerful narcotic, with very much less sedative influence upon the heart than is possessed by most volatile oils. Injected into the circulation of the dog, it caused profound sleep, with slowing of the respiration, and, if the dose had been large enough, loss of reflex activity.” In the Bericht of Schimmel & Co., Leipzig, April, 1904, pp. 159- 165, special consideration was given to the subject of nutmeg poisoning by a contribution from Dr. Fritz Jurss, Assistant at the Pharmacological Institute of the University of Rostock, entitled: ” On Myristicin and some closely related substances.” This com¬ prised an account of the action of myristicin, CnH^Og, a constituent of the essential oil of nutmeg, on frogs, fish, birds, and mammals, especially the guinea pig and rabbit. It was noted by this investiga¬ tor (loc. cit., p. 159) that “ the oils of nutmeg and mace only cause fatal poisoning in a rabbit in doses of 10.o to 12.0 grammes, whereas a single nutmeg (4.0 to 5.0 grammes) is capable of producing in man serious effects,” and the conclusion was therefore drawn that the oil is less poisonous for animals than for man. It should be considered, however, in this connection that the essential oil of