Chem. [a. Fr. ésérine, f. éséré, the native name of the plant; see -INE.
(First used in Fr. by Vée Recherches chimiques sur la fève du Calabar 1865).]
A crystalline alkaloid obtained from the Calabar bean, the fruit of Physostigma venenosum, employed in solution in medicine to produce contraction in the pupil of the eye.
1879. P. Smith, Glaucoma, 153. Eserine lowers the tension of the glaucomatous eye.
1888. Edin. Rev., Oct., 507. Eserine or physostigmine.
