74 SANSKRTT MATFKTA MEPTCA 



name. The article supplied under its vernacular name surma is 

 the sulphide of lead ore. Surma is usually translated as sulphide 

 of antimony, but I hare not been able to obtain a single specimen 

 of the antimonial ore from the shops of Calcutta and of gome 

 other towns. The sulphide of antimony occurs in line streaky, 

 fibrous, crystalline masses of a radiated texture. The lead ore on 

 the contrary, occurs in cubic masses destitute of rays and is 

 tabular in its crystalline arrangement. 



^t^ts^T Srotonjana is described as of white colour, and is said 

 to be produced in the bed of the Jamun;i and other rivers. It is 

 called sajfed surma in the vernacular, and the article supplied 

 under this name by Hindustani medicine vendors is calcareous or 

 Iceland spar. It is used as a colly rium for the eyes, but is 

 considered inferior to the black surma or galena. 



3*1 l"*W PusJipnnjana is described as an alkaline substance. 

 I have not met with any vernacular translation of this word, nor 

 with any person who could identify or supply the drug, Wilson, 

 in his Sanskrit-English Dictionary, translated the term as mix of 

 brass, but I know not on what authority. 1 



"OTTSFT Basdnjana is the extract of the wood of Berberis Asiatica 



r 



called rasot in the vernacular. It will be noticed in its place in 

 the Vegetable Materia Medica. 



Sauvirdnjana or galena is chiefly used as a cosmetic for the 

 eyes, and is supposed to strengthen these organs, improve their 

 appearance and preserve them from disease. It enters into the 

 composition of some collyria for eje diseases. Galena, heated 

 over a fire and cooled in a decoction of the three myrobalans for 

 seven times in succession, is rubbed with human milk and used 



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