To obtain the seed fit for use it is necessary that the tree from which it is 7athered should be of the right variety of jambul, and that tio "wind-falls" or rotten fruit be included. The native phy sicians believe that this remedy is of the greatest use in the treatment of diabetes, and that there is no necessity to restrict the patient's diet. as this prevents the pos sibility of tbe excretion of sugar in the urine. Rudolf (Bull. Pharrn., No. I, '9S).
Preparations and Dose.—The prepa ration generally employed is the powder, which may be given in doses varying front S grains to 1 drachm.
A fluid extract is more conveniently administered. and can be given in graded doses from 10 to 30 minims, according to the results obtained, in emulsion or caps-ules.
Physiological Action.—The manner in which the reduction of sugar in diabetic urine occurs when this agent is adminis tered is not known. no untoward results having been noted in any case that could give a clue to its action. It acts as a gastric tonic through a principle that re sides in the seeds, the bark., and the fruit of the plant.
Its properties, however, are principally in the seeds, which, accordin7 to the latest analyses, especially that of Elborne, contain essential oil, chlorophyl, resin, gallic acid, albumin, coloring extracts, and an insoluble residue. Theze grains appear to contain an active principle, a glucoside, to which the physiological effects of the plant are due, but which, as yet, has not been isolated.
Von Mehring has shown that phlorid zin, a glucoside extracted from the apple tree, the pear-tree, and other plants, has the power of producing sugar in the urine of animals. Groeser instituted a series of experiments upon animals, and administered phloridzin to dogs in the proportion of 15 grains per 2 pounds of body-weight, and was able to produce a considerable amount of glycosuria, which persisted from twenty-four to thirty-nine hours. It was also found that phloridzin caused diarrhoea. Assured of the effects of this, glucot--,ide, the experi menter then submitted the dogs to the conjoined action of phloridzin and the extract of jambul, and found that under such circumstances the sugar of the urine was invariably diminished almost to one half of that secreted under the action of the phloridzin alone, and also that the duration of the glycosuria 1N-as consider ably lessened. In pushing his experi
ments in order to determine the toxicity of jambul, Groeser noticed that as many as 5 drachms of the drug could be given in a day without producing in the dog any deleterious effects, with the excep tion of some diarrhcea. (Egasse.) Therapeutics.—The juice of the fresh bark-, mixed with goats' milk, is said to be used in the treatment of infantile diar rhcea. It has also been used as an as tringent in the form of gargles and lo tions.
DIABETES.—The plant has been espe cially extolled in the treatment of dia betes. The natives of India and the Eng lish physicians w-ere the first to speak in favor of jarnbul as a remedy for diabetes mellitus. The experiments of Lascelles Scott, T. A. E. Balfour, and G. Sims Woodhead show that jambul has the power to stop, in a marked degree, the conversion of starch into sugar, and that this action increases proportionately to the quantity of the drug used.
Following the results of the experi ments of von Alering, clinicians have em ployed jarnbul, with varying success, in the treatment of diabetes in man. Eg-asse has shown that the drug can apparently do good only in the mild forms of dia betes, but in which kind of diabetes it will do the most good has not yet been determined. The facts so far collected point to the insipidus form. The drug bas been employed mostly in the form of powder. The minimum dose may be set down as from 4 to 7 grains, repeated three or four times a day, but it can be increased to even 1 V., drachms in the twenty-four hours, according to the re quirements of the individual cases.
Jambul in doses of 21/2 to 3 grains in pills three times a day diminishes the amount of urine and the percentage of sugar in diabetes, while sloughing ulcers attending the disease healed with sur prising rapidity. In simple polyuria 110 effect was noticeable. H. Fenwick (Med. Standard, Feb., '88).
Four cases of diabetes treated with the drug, beginning with dose of 5 grains and increasing to 15 grains three times a day, but without the slightest benefit. T. Oliver (Lancet, 11Iay 5, '88).