_Atís or Atees._
=Botanical Origin=—_Aconitum heterophyllum_ Wallich, a plant of 1 to 3
feet high with a raceme of large flowers of a dull yellow veined with
purple, or altogether blue, and reniform or cordate, obscurely 5-lobed,
radical leaves.[65] It grows at elevations of 8000 to 13,000 feet in
the temperate regions of the Western Himalaya, as in Simla, Kumaon and
Kashmír.
=History=—We have not met with any ancient account of this drug, which
however is stated by O’Shaughnessy[66] to have been long celebrated in
Indian medicine as a tonic and aphrodisiac. It has recently attracted
some attention on account of its powers as an antiperiodic in fevers,
and has been extensively prescribed by European physicians in India.
=Description=—The tuberous roots of _A. heterophyllum_ are ovoid,
oblong, and downward-tapering or obconical; they vary in length from
½ to 1½ inches and in diameter from ³/₁₀ to ⁶/₁₀ of an inch, and
weigh from 5 to 45 grains. They are of a light ash colour, wrinkled
and marked with scars of rootlets, and have scaly rudiments of leaves
at the summit. Internally they are pure white and farinaceous. A
transverse section shows a homogeneous tissue with 4 to 7 yellowish
vascular bundles. In a longitudinal section these bundles are seen to
traverse the root from the scar of the stem to the opposite pointed
end, here and there giving off a rootlet. The taste of the root is
simply bitter with no acridity.
[65] Beautifully figured in Royle’s _Illustrations of the Botany of the
Himalayan mountains_, &c., 1839, tab. 13; also in Bentley and Trimen’s
_Medicinal Plants_, Part 27 (1877).
[66] _Bengal Dispensatory_, 1842. 167.
=Microscopic Structure=—The tissue is formed of large angular
thin-walled cells loaded with starch which is either in the form of
isolated or compound granules. The vascular bundles contain numerous
spiroid vessels which seen in transverse section appear arranged so as
to form about four rays. The outer coat of the root is made up of about
six rows of compressed, tabular cells with faintly brownish walls.
=Chemical Composition=—The root contains _Atisine_, an amorphous
alkaloid of intensely bitter taste discovered by Broughton,[67] who
assigns to it the formula C₄₆H₇₄N₂O₅, obtained from concurrent analysis
of a platinum salt. The alkaloid is readily soluble in bisulphide of
carbon or in benzol, also to some extent in water. It is of decidedly
alkaline reaction, devoid of any acridity. Atisine has also been
prepared (1877) by Dunin[68] from the root in the laboratory of one of
us. We have before us its hydroiodate, forming colourless crystallized
scales, which we find to be very sparingly soluble in cold alcohol or
water. At boiling temperature the hydroiodate of atisine is readily
dissolved; the aqueous solution on cooling yields beautiful crystals.
They agree, according to Dunin, with the formula C₄₆H₇₄N₂O₄. HI + OH₂;
this chemist has also shown atisine not to be poisonous. The absence in
the drug of aconitine is proved by medical experience,[69] and fully
confirmed by the absence of any acridity in the root.
=Uses=—The drug is stated to have proved a valuable remedy in
intermittent and other paroxysmal fevers. In ordinary intermittents it
may be given in powder in 20-grain doses. As a simple tonic the dose is
5 to 10 grains thrice a day.
=Substitutes=—The native name _Atís_ applied in India to several other
drugs, one of which is an inert tasteless root commonly referred to
_Asparagus sarmentosus_ L. In Kunawar the tubers of _Aconitum Napellus_
L. are dug up and eaten as a tonic, the name _atís_ being applied to
them as well as to those of _A. heterophyllum_.[70]
[67] _Pharm. Journ._ vi (1875) 189; also Blue Book, East India
Chinchona Cultivation, 1877. 133.
[68] Dr. M. Dunin von Wasowicz has devoted to the drug under notice
an elaborate paper in the _Archiv der Pharmacie_, 214 (1879) 193-216,
including its structure, which he illustrates by engravings.
[69] _Pharm. of India_, 1868. 4. 434.
[70] Hooker and Thomson (on the authority of Munro) _Flor. Ind._ 1855.
58.