LEGUMINOS#. 431 
rieties, namely, red and white-seeded. The seeds are said 
to be poisonous, and are used internally in affections of the 
nervous system, and externally in skin diseases, ulcers, and as 
-.an application to fistulas to excite inflammatory action. The 
root is described as emetic. Examples of compound medicines 
containing the seeds, extracted from Sarangadhara, Chakra- 
_datta, and the Bhavaprakasa will be found in Dutt’s Hindu 
Materia Medica, p. 152. Mahometan writers under the name 
of Ain-ed-dik (cock’s eye) describe the seeds, and state that 
they are hot and dry, tonic and aphrodisiac. Their use by gold- 
smiths as a weight is. alluded to in the following well known 
oha (couplet) :— 
Sond kahe sunfr se, “ uttum mhari jat 
; K4le muvh ki ghungcehi, aur tule hamare sath.” 
My rank is of the highest, said the gold to the goldsmith, 
shall I be weighed against that black-faced seed! Sloane, in 
1700, appears to have been the first to suggest the use of Abrus 
_ oot asa substitute for liquorice. Prosper Alpinus, who visited 
Egypt in 1592, only mentions the use of the seeds as beads, 
and states that they are sometimes eaten, but are very unwhole- 
- Some ; he calls the plant “abrus,’”’ a name probably of Coptic 
origin, but possibly derived from the Greek aBpos, pretty. Greek 
and Latin writers do not mention any plant bearing this name. 
Dr. Burton Brown (Punjab Poisons) records a case in which 40 
Seeds of Abrus, administered internally, caused purging and 
Vomiting, with symptoms of collapse and suppression of urine; 
olostemma Rheedii, cummin, and sugar, and administere iL 
us seeds are said to have been used for centuries in Brazil 
@ popular remedy for granular lids and pannus, and attention. 
called to this practice in Europe in 1862, without appare 
ing to any experiments with the drag. e 
