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: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

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

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Am. jour. Pharm.) Chemical Examination of Nutmeg. 5^7 December, 1908. J ' for the most part, but exhibits some indication of stimulation in the ‘form of restlessness, slight convulsive movements, and tremor. Animals, therefore, correspond very closely to man in their reac- tions to nutmeg poison.” “ Many volatile oils induce fatty degeneration of the liver and other organs, but nutmeg poison has little or no action in this direction.” “ Wallace’s results do not indicate any useful purpose which nutmeg might serve in therapeutics, but are of interest in drawing attention to the possibility of serious poisoning from one of our common domestic flavoring agents.” The above record of experiments would appear to have estab- lished the fact that the narcotic properties of nutmeg are to be attributed to myristicin, and that much smaller amounts of the latter substance are required to produce the characteristic symptoms of nutmeg poisoning when administered by the mouth to a cat than when injected subcutaneously into the guinea pig or rabbit, as indicated by Jiirss (loc. cit.). It may be noted, however, that the statement by Cushny, that nutmeg poison has little or no action in inducing fatty degeneration oL the liver, is quite at variance with the observations of Jiirss, and is not confirmed by the results of the experiments conducted by Dale, as recorded in the latter part of this paper. EXPERIMENTAL. In the beginning of this investigation it was thought possible that the narcotic action of nutmeg might be due to the presence of either small amounts of an alkaloid or of a soluble toxic protein. Special tests were therefore made for both of these classes of sub- stances, but with negative results. For the further systematic investigation of the subject it was decided to make a complete study of (I) the essential oil, (II) the expressed oil or fat, and (III) the “ press-cake ” remaining after the removal of the latter, as all the constituents of the nutmeg would be included in these products. I. The Essential Oil of Nutmeg. A complete account of our investigation of this product, which was specially distilled for us from Ceylon nutmegs by Messrs. Stafford Allen & Sons, of London, has already been published (Journ. Chem. Soc., 1907, 91, 2037), and therefore need not be