00 SANSKRIT MATERIA MRDICA. 



promote the appetite, to remove local swellings or tumours in the 

 abdomen and to cure dyspepsia with severe pain after meals. 



A paste made of equal parts of yavnkshdra and Mfjimkmara 

 with water is applied to abscesses, for the purpose of opening 

 Hi em. 



s 



NITRATE OF POTASH. 



-Nitre was unknown to the ancient Hindus. There is no 



recognized name for it in Sanskrit. The Bhavapraknsa mentions 



Suvarchzkd as a variety of sarjikd or barilla, and gives som as its 



vernacular equivalent. But suvarrhikd, according to standard 



lexicons, is a synonym of sarjiha and not a separate article. Some 



recent Sanskrit formulae for the preparation of mineral acids 



containing nitre, mention this salt under the name of Soraka. 



This word however is not met with in any Sanskrit dictionary 



and is evidently Sanekrifci zed from the vernacular sord, a term of 



foreign origin. The manufacture of nitre was therefore most 



probably introduced into India after the adoption of gunpowder 



as an implement of warfare. It is necessary to observe here that 



many writers have erronously translated nitre into the Sanskrit 



term yamkshdra. This last however is not a nitrate but an 



impure carbonate of potash obtained by reducing to ashes the 



spikes of the barley. 



Chloride of ammonium is not mentioned by Susruta and the 

 older writers. In recent Sanskrit works it is called narasdra, a 

 term apparently derived from the vernacular nausadar of Persian 

 origin. Another salt mentioned in recent Sanskrit compilations 

 is the impure sulphate of soda called Kharinoon in the vernacular. 

 It is called K$bdri lavanti in Sanskrit, and is used in combination 

 with other saline medicines. 



ALKALINE ASHES. 



S*m. ^tt, Kshwra. 

 The ashes of a number of plants containing more or less potash 

 are employed both externally and internally. A list of these 

 plants used in the preparation of ormstic pastes, has been already 



