A small and elegant tree of the Fam. Anacardiaceae, growing in the West Indies and other parts of tropical America. A gum exudes from the bark, which bears some resemblance to gum arabic, but is only in part soluble in water, and consists of true gum and bassorin. It is the gomme d'acajou of the French writers.

Peckoldt describes cashew gum as occurring in hard, fragile pieces which are more or less transparent, yellowish-brown, and stalactite-shaped, and is as soluble in water as acacia. (Zeit. Oest. Apoth. Ver., 1893, 501.) The fruit is a fleshy, pear-shaped receptacle, supporting at its summit a hard, shining, ash-colored, kidney-shaped nut, an inch or more in length and three-quarters of an inch broad, consisting of a pericarp having large balsam canals and of a sweet oily kernel which is now an article of commerce as a food, sold either in the raw state or roasted and salted: The receptacle is red or yellow, and of agreeable sub-acid flavor with some astringency. It is edible, and affords a juice which has been recommended in uterine complaints and dropsy. This (juice is converted by fermentation into a vinous liquor, which yields by distillation a spirit used in making punch, and said to be powerfully diuretic.

Although the pericarp contains a very acrid oil, the seeds are edible. The black juice contained between the outer and inner shell of the nuts is extremely acrid and corrosive, producing, when applied to the skin, severe inflammation, followed by blisters or desquamation. Staedeler found in it two peculiar principles - anacardio acid and a yellow, oleaginous liquid, cardol (C₂.H₃₀O₂). (See J. P. C., 3e ser., xiii, 459.)

At one time it was sometimes applied to the face by women, in order to remove the cuticle, and produce a fresher and more youthful aspect. The juice, or its active oil, has been used in medicine for a discutient. In the West Indies the juice is said to be employed for the removal of corns and warts and in the treatment of ringworm and elephantiasis. The oil of cashew-nut hulls has been employed in the treatment of leprosy. It is brown in color and has a sp. gr. of 0.9868, a Saponification number of 123, and an iodine number of 163. (8ee Proc. Penna. Pharm. Asso., 1918, xli, 167). The fumes of the roasting nuts have caused violent dermatitis, the exposed parts becoming red and enormously swollen, and very painful. The tincture of iodine has been found useful as a local application. The black juice of the nut and a milky juice which flows from the tree after incision are used for almost indelibly marking linen. Ammonium Anacardole has been used as a hair dye. The Oriental Cashew-nut or Anacardium - Orientale is the fruit of Semecarpus Anacardium, L., a tree quite common in Southern Asia. It contains principles similar to the West Indian Cashew, and is also said to contain an. alkaloid, chuchunine.

Mind.� Fixed ideas. Hallucinations; thinks he is possessed of two persons or wills. Anxiety when walking, as if pursued. Profound melancholy and hypochondriasis, with tendency to use violent language. Brain-fag. Impaired memory. Absent mindedness. Very easily offended. Malicious; seems bent on wickedness. Lack of confidence in himself or others. Suspicious [Hyos.]. Clairaudient, hears voices far away or of the dead. Senile dementia. Absence of all moral restraint.
Head. � Vertigo. Pressing pain, as from a plug; worse after mental exertion�in forehead; occiput, temples, vertex; better during a meal. Itching and little boils on scalp.
Eyes. � Pressure like a plug on upper orbit. Indistinct vision. Objects appear too far off.
Ears. � Pressing in the ears as from a plug. Hard of hearing.
Nose. � Frequent sneezing. Sense of smell perverted. Coryza with palpitation, especially in the aged.
Face. � Blue rings around eyes. Face pale.
Mouth. � Painful vesicles; fetid odor. Tongue feels swollen, impeding speech and motion, with saliva in mouth. Burning around lips as from pepper.
Stomach. � Weak digestion, with fullness and distention. Empty feeling in stomach. Eructation, nausea, vomiting. Eating relieves the Anacardium dyspepsia. Apt to choke when eating or drinking. Swallows food and drinks hastily.
Abdomen. � Pain as if dull plug were pressed into intestines. Rumbling, pinching, and griping.
Rectum. � Bowels inactive. Ineffectual desire; rectum seems powerless, as if plugged up; spasmodic constriction of sphincter ani; even soft stool passes with difficulty. Itching at anus; moisture from rectum. Haemorrhage during stool. Painful haemorrhoids.
Male. � Voluptuous itching; increased desire; seminal emissions without dreams. Prostatic discharge during stool.
Female. � Leucorrhoea, with soreness and itching. Menses scanty.
Respiratory � Pressure in chest, as from a dull plug. Oppression of chest, with internal heat and anxiety, driving him into open air. Cough excited by talking, in children, after fit of temper. Cough after eating with vomiting of food and pain in occiput.
Heart. � Palpitation, with weak memory, with coryza in the aged; stitches in heart region. Rheumatic pericarditis with double stitches.
Back. � Dull pressure in the shoulders, as from a weight. Stifl-ness at nape of neck.
Extremities. � Neuralgia in thumb . Paralytic weakness. Knees feel paralyzed or bandaged. Cramps in calves. Pressure as from a plug in the glutei. Wart: on palms of hands. Fingers swollen with vesicular eruption.
Sleep. � Spells of sleeplessness lasting for several nights. Anxious dreams.
Skin. � Intense itching eczema, with mental irritability; vesicular eruption; swelling, urticaria; eruption like that of Poison-Oak. [Xerophyl.; Grindel.; Croton.] Lichen planus; neurotic eczema. Warts on hands. Ulcer formation on forearm.
Modalities. � Worse, on application of hot water. Better, from eating. When lying on side, from rubbing.
Relationship. � Antidote: Grindeleia; Coffea; Juglans; Rhus; Eucalyptus.
Compare: Anacard. occidenlale (cashew nut) (ersipelas, vesicular facial eruptions), anaesthetic variety of leprosy; warts, corns, ulcers, cracking of the skin on soles of feet). Rhus; Cypriped.; Chelidon.; Xerophyl. Platina follows well. Cereus serpentina (swearing).