Nux Vomica.

(A larger monograph by Lloyd can be found at: http://www.swsbm.com/ManualsOther/Nux_vomica-Lloyd.PDF)

This drug is the fruit of a tree (Strychnos nux-vomica) indigenous to most parts of India, especially the coast districts, and is thought to have been introduced into medicine by the Arabians. The natives of India d-id not, however, value it, probably because of its exceedingly energetic nature. Although the Hindoos of the present time employ it extensively, it is probable that they were not acquainted with it before its introduction into Germany, in the sixteenth century. Its European employment was originally as a drug-shop poison, for the purpose of killing animals and destructive birds, such as crows; it was not until after the days of Parkinson (492), 1640, that its employment in medicine began. The Pharmacopeia values nux preparations by the amount of strychnine present, the Eclectics by quality, strychnine being subordinated so as not to dominate the product unduly.

The History of the Vegetable Drugs of the U.S.P., 1911, was written by John Uri Lloyd.