[Reprinted from the American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record, November 25, 1894.] 
Bissy Nuts; 
The Kola of the West Indies. 
BY 
FRED. B. KILMER, New Brunswick, N. J. 
NEW YORK: 
American Druggist Publishing Co., 
37 College Place. Written for the A merican Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record. 
BISSY NUTS; THE KOLA OF THE WEST INDIES. 
By Fred. B. Kilmer. 
New Brunswick, N. J. 
The African slave traders who peopled 
the West Indies with Gold Coast negroes, 
brought with them the seeds of the Cola 
acuminata a plant which served to amelio- 
rate the condition of the slave, and has 
since contributed greatly to the comfort 
and welfare of his descendants. 
according to the soil and location. The 
kola thrives best in well watered and storm 
sheltered spots, where the soil is deep, rich 
and of a clayey character. It is a hardy 
tree and flourishes throughout an extensive 
territory and a wide range of temperature, 
being occasionally found in an altitude of 
3,000 to 5,000 feet. 
The introduction of this Sterculia into 
the West Indies was long enough ago for 
the plant to become naturalized and its 
name changed to Bissy (or Bissi). The 
African designations are unknown in these 
countries. The term “ Kola ” has very re- 
cently come into use in some of the English 
islands. Its native name is derived from 
the name of its first planter, Daniels and 
others attributing its introduction into these 
islands to a Guinea slave trader named 
Biche or Bassai, in 1630-40. It has there- 
fore had the advantage of several centuries 
of cultivation under favorable conditions 
of soil and climate. 
ITS INTRODUCTION INTO THE WEST INDIES. 
AGE OF THE TREE. 
The age of the tree is indefinite ; in cer- 
tain instances it has been known to bear 
well for fifty years successively. It has 
been propagated mostly by self-sowing, or 
a here and there planting by the natives. 
But since its commercial value has come 
into recognition its cultivation has assumed 
a new importance and the government 
gardens furnish the seeds and young plants 
in large quantities ; some governments are 
even offering bounties for its cultivation. 
Under favorable conditions its yield is 
large. Each fertile flower produces five 
pods and each pod five or more seeds. A 
quart of seeds, or nuts, weighing one and a 
half pounds, are sometimes gathered from a 
single flower, and it is not unusual to 
secure one hundred to one hundred and 
fifty pounds from one tree, the average 
crop being from seven to ten thousand 
pounds per acre. 
THE YIELD OF CROP. 
The geographical limits of the Cola acumi- 
nata in the West Indies cannot be accu- 
rately defined. My records and investiga- 
tions show that it is found in Cuba, Jamaica, 
and Porto Rico, and more or less frequently 
in the Leeward islands and the Windward 
islands as far as Trinidad. Occasional 
plants have been noted along the coast of 
Brazil north of the Amazon, in the Gruianas, 
Venezuela about Colon, and isolated here 
and there along the islands and coasts of 
Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras. 
Wherever bananas, nutmeg or cocoa grow, 
kola will flourish and is generally fctund. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE KOLA TREE. 
Although there are many species of Ster- 
culia to be found in the West Indies, the 
Cola acuminata was the only kola observed. 
It is too well known to need much descrip- 
tion. In its general appearance a kola 
tree may be said to resemble the horse 
chestnut or the tropical orange. The tree 
grows to a height of 20 to 40 feet, and is 
valuable for timber, ornament and shade. 
It begins to bear fruit when about five 
years’ old and comes into full bearing in 
nine or ten years, producing two crops 
annually, one in midsummer and one in 
late winter. The yield varies considerably, 
ITS HABITAT. 
The bissy gatherer has little knowledge 
concerning the constituents of the nuts, or 
for what uses they are required in far off 
lands. Those gathered for his own or for 
the use of the native physicians are sorted 
and prepared with considerable care ; but 
those intended for export seem to receive 
very little attention, and anything that will 
pass in the market goes. The nuts sent to 
the markets are frequently mildewed, 
mouldy and partially decomposed. The vol- 
atile constituents, glucosides and other 
principles, have become dissipated or trans- 
formed, the delicate ferment power has 
acted, to a greater or less degree ; fermen- 
tation and bacterial diseases have set in 
and produced marked changes ; finally the 
whole has dried into a lump of vegetable 
horn, bitter and rank to the taste, and with 
but little virtue, aside from the varying 
amount of caffeine it may contain. 
THE COLLECTION OF THE NUTS. 
3 It was not a matter of wonder to me, 
after living among such drug collectors, 
that a delicate drug, like kola, should 
prove disappointing when it reached the 
American practitioner. On the other hand, 
it is a matter of surprise that drugs sup- 
plied by these unskilled natives should be 
of any value as remedial agents contain- 
ing, as they often do, sensitive glucosides, 
alkaloids and volatile principles, which re- 
quire intelligent handling if they are to be 
preserved in their original form and with- 
out loss of efficiency. 
and furnishes the indication that these rude 
and simple people have somehow acquired 
habits of extreme care and excessive cau- 
tion. 
Some differences of opinion exist among 
the natives as to the relative value of kola 
raised in different localities, and variation in 
the size and form of the flowers and seed. 
The number of cotyledons in the Cola 
acuminata varies Irom two to five; and 
those containing the larger number are 
considered the best The white nuts are 
also considered preferable. But until the 
exact nature of the active principle of the 
plant is more clearly known, these points 
cannot be accurately determined. So far 
THE DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF KOLA. 
I spent some time under the tuelage of the 
native collectors who have acquired a repu- 
tation for their skill in preparing and curing 
SKILL OF THE NATIVE COLLECTORS. 
BRANCH AND FRUIT OF THE WEST INDIAN KOLA. 
bissy nuts. For chewing and certain other 
purposes the products of their hands com- 
mands an unusually high price. Their secret 
consists of expert knowledge coupled with 
the exercise of extraordinary care. They 
select the nuts from healthy trees, the lo- 
cation, quality of the soil, color of the nut, 
etc., entering into their calculations. Only 
thoroughly matured nuts and perfect speci- 
mens are used, and the collectors are trained 
to detect the smallest spot or blemish in the 
nuts; the slightest evidence of decay, softness 
or lack of color and rotundity being suffi- 
cient to cause their rejection. After being 
scrupulously cleansed, and while still moist, 
the perfect nuts are placed upon leaves in a 
small dug-out in the earth. The great care 
taken to prevent change or damage by 
bruising, moulding, mildew or the action 
of the sun, air and moisture is noticeable, 
as I could decide, many of these differences 
were immaterial. 
AS USED BY THE NATIVES. 
In its African home the kola is sur- 
rounded by symbolism and endowed with 
miraculous power and divine attributes. 
It has lost these in gaining a foot- 
hold in the Antilles, but has acquired 
an important place as a domestic 
remedy and as a sustaining beverage. 
Among the natives the most common 
use of kola is for chewing. The undried 
nut is used, the juice being swallowed and 
the fibrous portion rejected. The nut or 
fruit is simply taken from the pod, washed 
and wrapped in a leaf or placed in a pouch 
or box to exclude the air, retain the moist- 
ure and prevent change. The “ burden 
bearers ” and field laborers, both male and 
4 female, follow this practice, and marvellous 
stories are told of the valu6 of this stimu- 
lant and nutrient in preventing tissue 
waste and enabling the laborer to perform, 
without fatigue, exhausting work under a 
blazing sky with but little or no food or 
drink. Energy is not supposed to be a 
prominent characteristic of the West 
Indies, but it is, nevertheless, true that the 
natives frequently undergo arduous and 
long-continued labor with the help of 
bissy nuts, and perform feats of endurance 
which would be trying in a cooler climate. 
A bit of salt fish, a piece of roasted yam 
or cassava and bissy is a day’s ration ; on 
this they tirelessly toil in the broiling sun, 
cutting cane, making roads, mowing and 
carrying heavy loads, apparently no more ex- 
hausted at night than when the day dawned 
and keep this up year after year. Bissy 
users seem to never wear out from over- 
work ; decrepit and broken down old men 
and women are not seen. In addition to 
its use in sustaining strength it is reputed 
to possess tonic qualities of especial value 
in the weakness and debility which follow 
low fevers and long illness. In such cases 
it is prescribed as nourishment, to be 
chewed freely or made into a drink with 
milk, honey or the juices of fruit. Physi- 
cians told me that in cases where patients 
had loathed food they could retain milk 
and broths on the addition of kola. 
and restfulness, and unlike other stimu- 
lants, it leaves behind no reaction or de- 
pression. Many professional men assured 
me that these kola beverages were their 
“sheet anchor.” There seems to be some 
propriety, therefore, in the circular which 
a West India manuf acturer of kola handed 
me, wherein were enumerated as those 
who are benefited by using tit, the follow- 
ing : 
“Ministers of the Gospel, after exhaustive 
sermons; doctors after exciting amputa- 
tions ; editors after gathering the scandal 
of the day ; schoolmasters after thrashing 
dunces; scholars, “before and after” ex- 
aminations ; postmasters, after deciphering 
misdirected letters ; carriage builders, after 
competing with Yankee buggies ; custom 
house agents, after trying to make impor- 
ters pay duty on free goods; governors, 
after blowing their own trumpets ; treasury 
clerks, after counting petty cash ; bankers, 
after wrestling with financial problems: 
politicians, after forgetting their promises ; 
women during the season of house-cleaning; 
anybody and everybody who is struggling 
through this weary world.” 
From personal experience I can vouch 
for some of the reputed qualities and ef- 
fects of kola. Coming from the North I 
found • • old Sol ” very young and active in 
the tropics. Exposure to his rays speedily 
enervates one and frequent siestas are nec- 
essary. 
When I became a kola user this con- 
dition of affiairs was changed and I found I 
could display as much energy, to say the least 
as those to the manner born. 1 was soon 
able to dispense with between-meal lunches, 
and if necessary,the mid-morning breakfast, 
without inconvenience. On several occa- 
sions I made expeditions into the country 
where it was impossible to obtain food 
without considerable trouble and delay. 
Most of these days were spent in riding a 
mule in bridle paths up and down the bare 
mountains, undergoing constant exposure to 
the direct rays, of the sun, and it frequently 
happened that a cup of kola in the morn- 
ing with some bits of bread would be my 
only food and drink until the evening din- 
ner, save the bissy nuts I chewed. 
ITS SUSTAINING PROPERTIES. 
Kola beverages in the shape of bissy tea 
(prepared similar to tea, coffee and choco- 
late, or in connection with them), kola 
champagnes, kola ale, kola cordiais, bitters 
and wines containing alcohol are in uni- 
versal use. They are served in restaur- 
ants, at the family table, as morning 
“ bracers” in the rum shops, stores, mar- 
kets and wayside stalls. These compounds 
are important articles of commerce, enter- 
ing into domestic import and export trade. 
The only institutions I saw that could claim 
the dignity of factories were devoted to the 
preparation of kola. 
KOLA BEVERAGES. 
KOLA SUPERIOR TO COFFEE. 
Coffee is not regarded as conducive to 
health in this climate, and, in fact, in ali 
climates people might properly exercise 
more discretion in its use. Tea is expensive 
in the West Indies, spirituous and malt 
liquors are disastrous in their effects both 
to the Northern man and the native born ; 
hence the popularity of kola in its various 
forms, as a substitute for coffee, tea and al- 
c >holic stimulants. The disordered diges- 
cim and nervous disturbances attendant 
upon coffee drinking, the dyspepsia, trein- 
ulousness and other symptoms which fol- 
low the inordinate use of tea, are not to be 
noticed in kola users. Its effects are bodily 
and mental stimulation, and capacity to 
expend energy without waste or fatigue. 
Its slight sedative action produces content 
There is among the natives an old saw to 
the effect : “Experience teacheth that the 
bissy eaten in the evening hindereth 
sleep,” and I am aware of its truthfulness. 
There is no sleep after a good allowance of 
kola taken at night, and yet the wakeful- 
ness it produces is not the irritating rest- 
lessness such as is caused by drinking too 
much tea or coffee. Under the influence of 
kola one is cheerful, tranquil, even ener- 
getic. One can read, talk, write, work, or 
play all night, but sleep will not come. A 
sleepless night occasioned by indulging in 
KOLA REPLACES SLEEP. 
5 tea, coffee, or other stimulants leaves one 
nervous, fretful and exhausted, but with a 
wakeful night under bissy one only feels 
chagrined at the loss of a tropical night’s 
delightful sleep. 
efficacious in infectious diseases and a rem- 
edy for inebriety. Some of these notions 
are well founded, others are probably 
mythical. Against poison and infection, 
it can only be of indirect benefit, but tor 
inebriety it is certainly effectual. A liberal 
dose of it will sober a drunken negro in 
half an hour. It is also claimed that if a man 
chew bissy, he can at the same time drink 
rum ad libitum without becoming intoxi 
cated. After the peculiar orgies and periods 
of debauching to which some of the natives 
NATIVE REPUTATION OF THE KOLA. 
In West India native materia medica the 
bissy nut is considered a most important 
agent, superior to coca and rivaling their 
famous panacea “ Bush Tea.” Its slight 
bitterness gives it the action of a bitter 
AFRICAN KOLA NUTS IN OUTER SHELL. 
tonic and in addition it seems to give a 
decided zest to food and drink. Resident 
physicians testify that it stimulates the 
flow of gastric juice and thus aids diges- 
tion. They also claim that it gives relief 
in cases where food resting heavily in the 
alimentary, canal has decomposed and fer- 
mented. In the native therapeutics it is 
reputed to possess virtues as an antidote for 
poisons and in many huts a tincture of bissy 
nuts in rum is kept macerating against 
the time of need. It is also thought to be 
are addicted, its effects are certainly very 
striking and efficient. After many days and 
nights of indulgence and excesses by the 
free use of bissy they turn up fresh and 
and vigorous. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE KOLA NUT. 
The fresh nuts divested of all pericarp 
weigh from 85 to as high as 575 grains (46 
to 57 per cent, of which is moisture). The 
skin covering is very smooth, polished, close 
in texture, tough and wiry, closely adherent 
6 to the substance of the nut. The epidermis 
is either a light violet, a pink-rose, or a 
yellowish-white in color; sometimes the 
yellowish-white are found in the same pods 
as those of other colors. The true coloring 
matter seems to reside chiefly in the skin. 
From this coloring matter, and probably 
from coloring matter arising from a further 
decomposition of the nut, the natives pre- 
pare a dye. On cutting or breaking the 
skin by even so light a puncture as a pin 
point so as to admit the air, a yellow spot 
is immediately formed, changing rapidly 
to brown wherever the air has penetrated. 
This coloration forms more rapidly in the 
sunlight; this change also takes place upon 
drying the nut even when care is taken to 
keep the skin unbroken. This action is 
doubtless due to a splitting up and oxida- 
tion of the glucosidal constituents and 
seems to in some way be aided by the 
action of the ferment of the kola. 
only give traces of alkaloid, and it is ques- 
tionable if in unripe kola any free caffeine 
exists as such. The caffeic constituents of 
the kola in the fresh nuts reside in a glu- 
cosidal body. By the decomposition of this 
glucosidal body in the ripening of the nuts 
and its subsequent handling and drying, 
caffeine is formed. 
At the. time of my experiments I was not 
aware of the works of Knebel and Heckel. 
who had separated from dried kola a sub- 
stance which Heckel called kola red, and 
which Knebel called kolanine. The glu- 
coside, as found in the fresh kola, evidently 
differs from these substances. Their ex- 
periments were conducted with dried kola, 
where no doubt this glucoside had become 
partially broken up and changed by the ac- 
tion of oxygen, zymolosis and other causes. 
THE ACTIVE PRINCIPLE. 
This glucosidal principle extracted from 
the nut by alcohol (after previously ex- 
tracting the free caffeine by chloroform) 
produces, when taken into the system, 
Within the nut is a mucilaginous sub- 
CONSTITUENTS OF KOLA. 
A PILE OF BISSY NUTS (WEST INDIAN KOLA) DEPRIVED OF THE OUTER SHELL. 
stance, not abundant, but enough to be 
noticeable. 
Separated and dried the gum seems, as 
might be expected, slightly the nature of a 
bassorin gum. The entire cotyledon is 
solid and tough, consisting of starch cells 
surrounded by cellulose walls. Extraction 
of the fresh kola with chloroform gives an 
extract consisting of traces of resinous 
matter, tannin and fatty matter. Upon di- 
luting with hot water a faint aromatic 
odor resembling cacao butter is evolved, 
due probably to the presence of the essen- 
tial oil. Some coloring matter is found, but 
only when the operation is not conducted 
with proper precautions. 
all of the marked effects which are at- 
tributed to the use of kola ; in fact, more 
marked action than many of the reported 
actions of alcoholic preparations of kola 
made from the dried drug. Quite similar 
results follow the mastication of kola from 
which the alkaloids have been extracted by 
chloroform, showing that after the extrac- 
tion of the already formed free alkaloids, 
there remains a principle which has the 
same waste-preventing and stimulating 
properties as the entirejnut. 
KOLAZYM, A NEW DIASTIC FERMENT. 
This glucosidal body is very easily de- 
composed in water, acids and alkalies, and 
among the bodies evolved in its final trans- 
formation is caffeine. Heckel has shown 
that the substance he named “ kola red ” 
contained in some instances as high as' 83 
per cent, of what he calls nascent caffeine. 
His substance “kola red” and Knebel’s 
“ kolanine” are probably bodies formed in 
The amount of alkaloids obtained by di- 
rect extraction of fresh kola by chloroform, 
gave an amount ranging from .05 to one- 
tenth of one per cent, free caffeine. In nuts 
not fully mature the first extractions would 
ALKALOIDAL CONTENTS. 
7 the progressive steps of the transformation. 
There is also present in the kola a diastasic 
ferment power which, for convenience, I 
have termed “kalazym.” This ferment in 
addition to a diastasic action on starch is 
also a glucosidal splitting ferment. 
ity of kola over other caffeic drugs which 
contain only free caffeine. 
I have not here intended to present any 
fnll or detailed results of my study, nor 
can completeness he claimed. Since my 
return I have continued my investigations 
aided by many experts, who will report 
their conclusions at a later date. I have 
also placed extractions of the drug in var- 
ious menstruums in the hands of physi- 
cians for clinical trial. 
THE FUNCTIONS OF KOLAZYM. 
The office of this ferment in the plant 
economy is very obscure, but it probably 
has to do with the change that takes place 
in the ripening nut whereby the carbohy- 
drates and nitrogenous elements are trans- 
formed into glucosides, and eventually al- 
kaloids and glucose. This ferment within 
the nut with the air excluded, either from 
the natural conditions which surround it 
or from some other cause acts very slowly. 
But in contact with the air, or in suitable 
media, its action is more or less rapid, and 
during its action products are formed 
which seem to be suitable soil for air and 
mould germs, so that these last finally seem 
to overcome the action of the kolazym, or. 
at least, to inhibit it. and these mould 
germs carry on a farther decomposition of 
the gums, starch cells, the glucocosides 
and alkaloidal constituents present. The 
presence in the fresh nut of this glucoside 
and enzyme explains the changes which 
take place when the nut is chewed. The 
taste of the nut when first bitten into is 
rather astringent and bitter; this, under 
the action of saliva, probably aided by the 
action of the kolazym, rapidly changes to 
a sweet. Thus it can be reasoned that in 
the native process of mastication the glu- 
coside is broken up, or partially so, and 
glucose and alkaloids are evolved. 
To this slow transformation of the kola 
by the breaking up of the glucoside is the 
marked difference J’and probable superior- 
THE KOLA OF THF- MARKET INFERIOR TO 
BISSY. 
There are many interesting problems yet 
unsolved. However, so far as results have 
been obtained. I am convinced that my 
observations in the Antilles were in the 
main correct, and that the kola, as known 
in the market, does not properly represent 
the bissy used by the West Indians. I be- 
lieve I am warranted in saying that it is an 
almost different drug, and this may account 
for its limited use in this country. My 
convictions are strong that all medicinal 
preparations of kola should be made from 
the undried and unchanged nuts, and that 
the more carefully they are selected and 
handled, and the quicker their constituents 
are extracted, the more marked and effi- 
cient will be their medical action. How 
far this may apply to other drugs is a prob- 
lem worth of extended study. 
Whether the kola in any form is of any 
remedial value is for the physician to de- 
cide, and a correct conclusion can be ar- 
rived at only when the action of bissy or 
kola, in its habitat, can be reproduced in the 
United States. To strive to accomplish 
this is within the province of Pharmacy. 
As an humble contribution toward this 
achievement, I offer these observations on 
“ Bissy Nuts, the Kola of the West Indies.” 
8