Also 8 tanguin, 9 tanquen, tangkin, tangena, -gina. [a. F. tanghin, ad. Malagasy tangena, tangen’.]
1. A poison obtained from the kernels of Tanghinia venenifera, N.O. Apocynaceæ, a shrub of Madagascar, the fruit of which is a large purplish drupe. The kernels were formerly used by the natives to test the guilt of a suspected person, Also attrib., as tanghin poison; tanghin camphor = tanghinin (see below).
1788. trans. Sonnerat’s Voy., III. 44. The tanguin is one of the most terrible poisons in the vegetable world.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXIV. 31/1. This name [Tanghinia] was given by Aubert du Petit Thouars to the plant which produces the celebrated Tanghin poison of Madagascar. Ibid. He … insisted that the Tanghin should be administered to himself.
1860. R. F. Burton, Centr. Afr., II. 357. The Tangina poison of the Malagash.
1880. J. Sibree, Gt. African Isl., xiv. 282. The chief use of the tangena ordeal was for the detection of witchcraft, by which the African races understand the use of poisonous drugs for evil purposes.
2. The shrub itself: more properly tangena or tangina. Also attrib.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1123/1. Tanghin or Tanquen is the only plant belonging to a genus which botanists have named Tanghinia.
1880. J. Sibree, Gt. African Isl., xiv. 281. The tangena is a small and handsome tree growing in the warmer parts of the island, and the poison is procured from the nut of its fruit.
1889. Agnes Marion, Tangena Tree, xiii. Horror-stricken, she flung the Tangena-fruit away.
Hence † Tanghicin, † Tanghin, Tanghinin, the poisonous principle of tanghin, tanghin camphor.
1838. T. Thomson, Chem. Org. Bodies, 926. A peculiar crystallized matter is extracted, to which they have given the name tanghicin.
1868. Watts, Dict. Chem., V. 658. The kernels … contain … a crystallisable substance called tanghin-camphor or tanghinin…. Tanghinin is very poisonous.
