INTKODF0T7O*. 13 





tg^MSi^r Svalpadrdvaka. Take of alum, chloride of ammonium, 

 borax, sulphide of antimony, impure carbonates of potash and soda 

 called yavakshdra and svarjikdkshdra, and rock salt, eaoh eight 

 tolas, nitre six tolas, orpiment four tolas ; powder, mix and rub 

 thorn together repeatedly with lemon juice and dry. Introduce 

 the mixture into the receptacle of a distilling apparatus, and 

 distill over the fire. The dose of the acid thus distilled is two drops. 

 It should be taken with six grains of long pepper. One week's 

 use of this medicine is said to cure spleen disease, dyspepsia, etc. 



W^^T Sankhadrdvaka. For this preparation take of sulphate 

 of iron thirty-two tolas, alum and rock salt sixteen tolas each, mire 

 one hundred and twenty-eight tolas ; powder, mix and distill the 

 mixture from a glass retort. The dose of this acid is said to be 

 twelve minims. The tongue should be anointed with clarified butter 

 before using this medicine. It should not also touch the teeth. 



^Hqift'er Asava and arishta or medicated spirituous liquors. 

 These are prepared from honey and treacle, with the addition of 

 various medicinal substances. They are all steeped in water and 

 laid aside in earthen jars for vinous fermentation. The proportion 

 of the different ingredients, as a general rule, is as follows : — 

 Water thirty-two seers, treacle twelve seers and a half, honey six 

 seers and a quarter, medicinal substances one seer and a quarter, in 

 powder or decoction. When raw vegetables are used for fermen- 

 tation, the resulting fluid is called Asava. When the decoction 

 of drugs only is added, the fermented liquor is called Arishta. 

 These preprations combine the properties of spirituous drinks 

 and those of the drugs used in preparing them. They are 

 heating, stimulant, easily digested and stomachic. The preparation 



called Drdkshdrishta is made with honey, sugar and decoction of 

 raisins, with the addition of a few aromatics, (see Vffis vinifera). 

 Its action must be analogous to that of wines. It is used as a 

 stimulant in exhausting diseases. 



¥^ i^ftf^fa: Medicated oils and Ghritas. These are decoctions 

 of vegetable drugs in oil or ghrita ( clarified butter) and form a 

 prominent feature of native practice. They are prepared in great 

 varieties and are extensively used in almost all sorts of diseases. 

 The ghritas are chiefly used internally, and the oils are rubbed 

 on the body. They are prepared by boiling vegetable drugs in 



