INTRODUCTION. 11 



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qf^cM Vatihd and ^ft?«h| Gudikd or pills and boluses. These 

 are usually prepared by reducing a decoction of vegetable 

 substances to a thick consistence and then adding some powders 



for making a pill-mass. Sometimes pill-masses are made of 

 powdered medicines with the addition of treacle or honey. 



ModaJca are boluses prepared by adding powders to 



cold syrup and stirring them together till uniformly mixed. No 

 boiling is required in this preparation. 



^^"m^f Khandapdha or cpnfections. These are made by 

 adding to syrup medicines in fine powder and stirring them over 

 the fire till intimately mixed and reduced to proper consistence. 

 Honey is often subsequently added to confections. Syrup may 

 be mide with sugar and water or milk or the strained decoction 

 of some medicinal substance. Confections should be of the same 

 consistence as extracts abDve described. 



W^TT Bhdoand or maceration of powders in fluids. Powders, 



and especially mineral substances, are often soaked in various 

 fluids, such as expressed juice of herbs, decoctions, etc., and then 

 dried. For this process the quantity of fluid added to the powder 



be 



The mixture is then allowed to 



dry in the sun. A single operation of this sort is completed in 

 twenty -four hours, but the process is generally repeated from 

 three to seven times, and often with a variety of fluids, so that the 

 resulting mass combines in it the active principles of various 

 drugs, 



tj^qi^f Putapdka or roasting. In this process vegetable drugs 



are reduced to a paste which is wrapped up in jamvii or vatapatra 

 ( leaves of Eugenia Jambolona and Ficas Bengalensis), firmly tied 

 with fibres of some sort, covered with a layer of clay from half 

 to one inch in thickness amd roasted in cowdung fire. Wben the 

 layer of clay assumes a brick red colour on the surface, the roastirg 

 is known to be completed. The ball should now be withdrawn 

 from the fire and broken, and the juice of the roasted drug 

 expressed and administered, with the addition of honey or such 

 other adjuncts as may be directed. Sometimes the roasted drug 

 itself is given in the form of a powder or pill. 



^*JPT3JT Sandhdnavarga or products of at:ioue fermentation. 



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