DISCOVERY OF IGNATIA

The seeds of the Ignatia amara (Strychnos Ignatia) are, in all probability, identical with the Igasur or Nuces vomicae mentioned by Serapion. Alston {Lectures on the Mat. Med., vol. ii. p. 38) states that the seed came into the Dutch shops about the latter end of the seventeenth century.

Lemery says that a Spanish Jesuit first brought it to the notice of the Portuguese merchants, and called it Faba St. Ignatii from Ignatius Loyola. The seeds are worn as amulets by the natives of the Philippine Inlands, for the cure of all kinds of diseases.