Cocculus Indicus

[Lat., Indian-berry.] ( Bot.) The fruit of the Anamirta paniculata. It has some resemblance to the bay-berry, and is largely imported from the Eastern archipelago. C. I. is chiefly used for adulterating cheap beer; and it is really wonderful in how many ways it is fitted to disguise a liquid prepared from insufficient quantities of malt and hops; thus, it imparts to the sophisticated liquor an intensely bitter taste, a darkne of color, and a fulne of body, while it adds to its inebriating qualities. It is scarcely nece ary to state that it is never used by respectable brewers. In large doses it is poisonous to all animals, and it has been used by poachers for stupefying fish and game. In medicine it has been used as an external remedy for certain skin-diseases. It owes its active properties to a very poisonous crystalline alkaloid called picrotoxine (C12H11O6). The names Levant nut and Bacca Oriental is are sometimes applied to this narcotic berry. From the pericarp of the same fruit has been extracted the no le formidable alkaloid principle Meni spermine. - The genus Anamirta belongs to the order Men is per maceæ, and is closely allied to the genus Coo COLUS, q. v.