48 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF [Ranunculacece. 
only enumerated as subjects for further inquiry. In the Zaleef-Shereef;an Indian work 
on Materia Medica, lately translated by Mr. Playfair, Singia and Bechnak. are given as 
two names of a most deadly poisonous root from Nepal, no doubt the Aconite. - 
In all'the native works, the Bikh is represented as being a deadly poison, even in the 
smallest doses. ‘The Hindoo works quoted by Dr. Hunter, describe it as being at first 
sweetish (hence the affix meetha, sweet), and then followed’ bya roughness on the tongue, 
or as it is expressed in one work, ‘‘ seizing’ the throat.” Dr. Buchanan ‘has informed us,, 
that it is equally fatal when taken into'the stomach, and when applied to wounds: hence 
used for poisoning arrows and killing wild animals. The futility of the Gorkhas attempt- 
ing to poison the springs of water was shown in the last campaign, and Dr. Govan has 
proved the improbability ofdeleterious exhalations from this plant being the cause of the 
unpleasant sensations experienced at great elevations, inasmuch as itis only found much 
below where these are experienced. But as it is a root of such virulent: powers, it has 
no doubt been frequently employed asa poison, and its sale was therefore prohibited by 
the native powers in India. Notwithstanding, this,'the Hindoo physicians, noted for the 
employment of ‘powerful drugs, such as arsenic, nux vomica, and croton, do not hesitate 
to employ this also in medicine. In the Zaleef-Shereef it is directed never to be given 
alone; but mixed with several other drugs, it is recommended in a variety of diseases, 
as cholera, intermittent fever, rheumatism, tooth-ache, and bites of snakes. It is also 
used as an external application in rheumatism in the north-western provinces. Mr. 
Pereira’s experiments have shown that this root, either in the form of powder, watery 
extract, or spirituous extract, is a most virulent poison: but of these forms the last is by 
far the most powerful. ‘‘ The effects were tried by introducing this extract into the 
** jugular vein, by placing it in the cavity of the peritoneum, by applying it to the 
‘* cellular tissue of the back, and by introducing it into the stomach. In all these cases, 
‘* except the last, the effects were very similar; namely, difficulty of breathing, weak- 
“ness, and subsequently paralysis, which generally commenced in the posterior 
‘* extremities, vertigoes, convulsions, dilatation of the pupil, and death, apparently from 
‘* asphyxia.” (v. Wall. Pl. Asiat. Rar, loc. cit.) 
With respect to the Bikhma, or the second kind of Bish, the difficulties are greater, as 
the specimens of Caltha? Bikhma; which Dr. Buchanan was informed produced the 
febrifuge root, belong to Dr. Wallich’s Aconitum palmatum, Cat. No. 4723; this may 
therefore produce a root possessed of the properties ascribed to the Bikhma by Dr. 
Buchanan’s informants. Though we have no further information respecting it than its 
name, properties, and the short description of Radix tuberosa to guide us, it is interesting 
to endeavour if it can be traced in other parts of India, though names, especially pro- 
vincial ones, we have seen vary in different districts, and the properties ascribed to a 
drug is rather an uncertain guide in the present state of the Indian Materia Medica ; 
but it appears to be more than an accidental coincidence, that the author, in his 
inquiries, has met with a tuberous root produced by a species of Aconite, which is 
extensively used in India as a tonic medicine. In the native works on Materia Medica, 
as 
