OLEUM SESAMI. 473 



History — It is probable that in ancient Hindu medicine tlii.s plant 

 was administered indiscriminately with chirettn, which, witli several 

 other species of Ophelia, is known in India by nearly the same veiiiacular 

 names. Ainslie asserts tliat it was a component of a famous bitter 

 tincture called by the Portuguese of India Broga amara; but on con- 

 sulting the authority he quotes^ we find that the bitter employed in 

 that medicine was Calumha. Andrograplds is known in 13engal as 

 Malid-tlta, literally Idng of hitters, from the Sanskrit tikta, " bitter," a 

 title of which it has been thought so far deserving that it has been 

 admitted to a place in the Pluirmacopoeia of India. 



Description— The straight, knotty branch stems are obtusely 

 quadrangular, about \ of an inch thick at the base, of a dark green 

 colour and longitudinally furrowed. The leaves are opposite, petiolate, 

 lanceolate, entire, the largest | an inch or more wide and 3 inches long. 

 Their upper surface is dark green, the under somewhat lighter, and as 

 seen under a lens finely granular. The leaves are very thin, brittle, and, 

 like the stems, entirely glabrous. 



In the well-dried specimen before us, for which we are indebted to 

 Dr. G. Bidie of Madras, flowers are wanting and only a few roots are 



I'rescnt. The latter are tapering and simple, emitting numerous thin 

 rootlets, greyish externally, woody and whitish within. The plant is 

 inodorous and has a persistent pure bitter taste. 



aqueous infusion of the herb exhibits 

 intensely bitter taste, which appears 



Chemical Composition— The 



eageats do not 

 the other hand 



a slight acid reaction, and has an intensely 



due to an indifferent, non-basic principle, for the usual y^-.„ 



indicate the presence of an alkaloid. Tannic acid on t 



produces an abundant precipitate, a compound of itself with the bitter 



pi-iuciple. The infusion is but little altered by the salts of iron; it 



contains a considerable quantity of chloride of sodium. 



Uses^Employcd as a pure bitter tonic like quassia, gentian, or 

 chn-etta, with the last of which it is sometimes confounded. 



SESAMEyE. 



OLEUM SESAMI. 



^<^same Oil, Gingeli, Gingili or Jiiijill Oil, Til or Teel Oil, Bcnne Oil; 



F. Iltiile de Sesame; G. Scsamol. 



Botanical Origin-Sesamum indicum DC, an erect, pubescent 

 annual herb, 2 to 4 feet hio-h,^ indigenous to India, l)ut propagated by 

 cultivation throughout the^warmer regions of the globe, and not uo^v 

 found anywhere in the wild state. In Europe, Scsamum is only grown 

 in some districts of Turkey and Greece, and on a small sea e in feiciiy 

 and in the islands of Malta and Gozo. It docs not succeed well even 

 >n the South of France. 



History-Sesamd is a plant which we find on the authority of the 



; Paolino da Sau Bartoluineo, Voyage to - Fig. in Bentley and Trimen'3 Med. 



1,1 n'' ^'"''''' (1770-1789), translated from PhvU^, V^rt 2.3 (16/ i ). 

 '^ ^'erman, Loud. 1800. pp. U. 409. 



