Materia Indica (Volume 1); Or, Some Account of Those Articles Which Are Employed by the Hindoos and Other Eastern Nations, in Their Medicine, Arts, and Agriculture (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1826 Excerpt: ... as much as one seed may be administered as a dose; though it may be safer to begin with a much smaller quantity, given intimately, blended with a little honey. My friend, Dr. Ingledew, informs me, that he gave this medicine in upwards of five hundred cases in the Mysore country, and found it a valuable and safe purgative; his dose was seldom more than one grain, combined with two of camphor. He would not recommend it as a safe purge for children under seven years old, nor for very old people, or delicate women. In the first edition of this work, published at Madras, in 1813, I gave the sentiments of Dr. White, and Mr. Marshall, of the Bombay establishment, regarding the purging croton; and, perhaps, I cannot do better than repeat them now. Doctor White observes: --"Take the seed of the croton tiglium, after hav"ing been each enveloped in a small ball of fresh "cow-dung, about the size of a sparrow's egg, put them "on some burning charcoal, and allow them to remain "till the cow-dung is burnt or toasted dry, then rc"move them, and taking off carefully the shells from "the seeds, pound the nuclei, and divide into pills, "making two out of each grain j two, or at most three "of which are a sufficient dose for an adult; half a "drachm of honey, to two drachms of the mass provesa "convenient medium for uniting it. The advantages "derived from the above mentioned process, are, in "the first place, it facilitates the removal of the shell; "secondly, it renders the nucleus more fit for pound41 ing; and lastly, the gentle torrefaction it undergoes, "corrects in a great degree the natural acrimony of "the nut. The Tamool, Canarese, and Sanscrit "names'of this nut, express its quality of liquefying "the contents of the intestines. An intelligent "Ioqui from Benares, t...