16 SANSKRIT MATERIA MEDICA. 



Aii oil for application to fistulous sores is prepared as follows. 

 Take of sulphur, realgar and turmeric, eight tolas each, mustard- 

 oil one seer, juice of datura leaves one seer, water four seers ; 

 boil together in the usual way. 1 



IRON. 



Sans, ^frf, Laulia. 



Three varieties of iron are used in Hindu Medicine, namely, 

 Kdnta laulia or cast-iron, Mandura or iron rust, and Lauhasara or 

 salts of iron produced by iron being kept in contact with vegetable 

 acids. The form of cast iron used in the manufacture of pans for 

 boiling milk is considered superior to all others for medicinal use. 

 The small particles of iron which are scattered around when hot 

 iron is beaten on the anvil, are called mandura. They are allowed 

 to remain in contact with the earth till they become very rusty 

 and brittle, when they are considered fit for use. The properties 

 of mandura are said to be analogous to those of cast iron. 

 Lauhasara or the granules produced on iron plates, smeared with 

 vegetable acids, are also used in medicine. This variety of iron 

 is said to be especially useful in diarrhoea, chronic bowel-com- 

 plaints, dyspepsia, and nervous diseases. 



Cash iron is purified by beating it into thin plates, heating 

 the plates in fire and sprinkling them with cow's urine, sour 

 conjee, oil, and a decoction of the pulse of Dolichos uniflorus 



(kulattha) 



The plates are reduced to 



powder by pounding them in an iron mortar, rubbing them with 

 cow's urine, and roasting the powder in a covered crucible 

 repeatedly till it is reduced to a fine impalpable powder, that 

 will float on water and will not irritate the eyes when applied to 

 them. It is usual to rub the iron with cow's urine and roast it 

 about a hundred times in succession. In some cases it is recom- 

 mended that iron should be thus roasted repeatedly for a thousand 



times. Mand 



like cast iron. 



1. ^n»«r *ra*rf*reT *5pftat*r ^mf^ *^*3rcrcrre*i g i *hk vmvs 



