Volume 2

Pharmacographia indica : a history of the principal drugs of vegetable origin, met with in British India / by William Dymock, C.J.H. Warden and David Hooper.

Date:
1890-1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pharmacographia indica : a history of the principal drugs of vegetable origin, met with in British India / by William Dymock, C.J.H. Warden and David Hooper. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    by Indra. Indian writei's describe seven varieties of Haritaki, wbicli however are nothing more than the same fruit in dif- ferent stages of maturity. Very large fruit are considered particularly valuable, and fetch a fancy price. Chebulic myrobalans are considered to be laxative, stomachic, tonic, and alterative. They are prescribed alone or in combination with Emblic and Beleric myrobalans in a vast number of diseases, chiefly those affecting the chest and abdomen. The three myrobalans together are called tripliala or the three fruits in Sanskrit. Various original receipts for their administration will be found in Dutt's Hindu Materia Medica. Myrobalans \^ere known to the early Arabian writers, and through them to the Greek writer Actuarius, who mentions five kinds. Nicolas Myrepsicus also notices them. The author of the Makhzan-el- Adwiya, on the subject of chebulic myrobalans, says that the vei'y young fruit, about the size of cumin seeds, are called Ralileh-i-zira; when about the size of a grain of barley, Ealileh-i-jawi; when of the size of a raisin, Halileh-i-zangi or Ealileh-i-hindi ; when half arrived at maturity and yellowish, Halileh-i-chini ; when still further advanced, Halileh-i-asfar; and lastly, when quite mature, Halileh-i-kahiili. Of these six varieties of chebulic myrobalans, the second, third, and last only are in general use for medicinal purposes, the fourth and fifth, also known as Eangari har or hiracle, are chiefly used by tanners. The Mahometans, like the Hindus, attribute a great many fanciful properties to the drug; shortly, we may say, that the ripe fruit is chiefly used as a purgative, and is considered to remove bile, phlegm, and adust bile; it should be combined with aromatics, such as fennel seeds, caraways, &c. The Arabs say^ i' IhUlaj is in the stomach like an intelligent housewife, who is a good manager of the house. The unripe fruit {Ealileh-i-hindi or Eiviaja) is most valued on account of its astringent and aperient properties, and is a useful medicine in dysentery and diarrhoea ; it should also be given with aromatics. Locally it is applied as an astringent. The first and second kind are supposed to have the same properties as the third in a less degree, and the fourth and fifth the same as the sixth iu