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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    nutmeg is very variable in character, and that some specimens may be practically free from myristicin, or even consist entirely of terpenes (compare Ber. d. deutsch. chem. Ges., 1890, 23, p. 1804). The experiments of Jiirss on birds and mammals were conducted by the subcutaneous injection of myristicin, in amounts varying from 2 c.c. to 6 c.c. per kilo of bodyweight in the case of guinea pigs, or 0.9 c.c. to 1.76 c.c. per kilo of bodyweight in the case of rabbits. The effects were manifested by a paralysis of the central nervous system, with a reduction of temperature, followed by death without convulsions. A post-mortem examination of the animals showed, among other phenomena, extensive degenerative changes in the liver, such as coagulative necroses, vacuolation of the pro- toplasm, and the abundant presence of fat, resembling the effects of phosphorus poisoning. Although the above-noted experiments afford ample evidence that myristicin is a substance possessing a considerable degree of physio- logical activity, it is also evident that the results are hardly com- parable with the symptoms produced in man by the administration of relatively small amounts of nutmeg. If, for example, two nutmegs, an amount which is known to be capable of producing serious effects in man, be considered as weighing 10 grammes, they would contain on an average not more than about 1.0 gramme of essential oil, of which a very small proportion is myristicin. On the other hand, the toxic effects produced in guinea pigs weighing 500 grammes and in rabbits weighing from 1300 to 2200 grammes respectively were obtained by the subcutaneous injection of myristicin in amounts many times greater than are contained in two nutmegs, and even considerably exceeding the total amount of essential oil contained in the latter (compare also Semi-annual Report of Schimmel & Co., Leipzig, Oct., 1904, p. 103). From a consideration of these facts, it appeared possible that the narcotic effects produced in man by the nutmeg might not be due solely to the essential oil or the myristicin contained therein, and it was, therefore, with the object of elucidating this question that a complete study of the constituents of the nutmeg was undertaken. Some considerable time after beginning this investigation a paper u as published by Dr. A. R. Cushny (loc. cit.) on the subject of nutmeg poisoning.” It was noted in this communication that some years ago Dr. G. B. Wallace had undertaken an examination of the pharmacological action of nutmeg on animals and the separa-