we LEG UMINOS&. 
aphrodisiac. The Piatip malas gives the following diveotieii ; 
for their administration:—“Take of Mucuna seeds 32 tolds, ~ 
boil them in 4 seers of cow’s milk till the latter becomes thick. 
The seeds should now be decorticated aud pounded, fried in — 
- ghi (clarified butter), and made into a confection with double 
_ their weight of sugar. The mass should then be.divided into’ 
balls and steeped in honey. Dose about a told (180 grs.).” — 
This preparation is said to be powerfully aphrodisiac. (Dutt’s 
Hindu Materia Medica, p. 148.) Similar properties are ascribed _ 
~ to the seeds (Hab-el-kulai) in Persian works. In the Con — 
can a paushtik for spermatorrhcea is made by powdering the- 
seeds of Gori Kuhili (cultivated mucuna) and Tribulus ter- 
_ restris, the roots of Hriodendron anfractuosum and Asparagus — 
adscendens, emblic myrobalans, Tinospora starch, and sugar- 
; candy, in equal [Rew en inies: of this powder 6 massa with. 23 
tolas of ghi are given in cow’s milk twice a day. The root is — 
considered a nervitie tonic, and is prescribed in paralysis. © 
“The Sanskrit names of the plant are Atmagupta, “having hid- 
den properties,” Kapikachchhu, “monkey’s itch,” and Vanari, 
“monkey plant.’”? According to Ainslie, a strong infusion of the 
root, sweetened with honey, is given by the Tamil doctors in 
The use of the hairs of the Mucuna pod as a ver- 
'. mifuge to expel ascarides appears to have originated in the — 
West Indies, no mention of such an employment of them being 
found in native Indian works.* They were introduced to the 
- notice of English physicians by Bancroft about 1769, and were 
probably first used in India upon ‘their adinission into the 
Edinburgh and. London Pharmacopeias (1783-1809). They 
are now Official in the Indian Pharmacopeia, but are hardly 
ever prescribed in this, country. Still there isa considerable 
demand for the. article in the Indian market for exportation to 
Europe, and it is supposed to be required for the preparation . 
of some patent vermifuge, 
Se ee ee eacIEESIENIInSTIIImne ee ny 
* In the Wanaushadi Prakdsha, a Marathi work which describes the 
‘domestic remedies of the Concan, their use with gir asan anthelmintic is 
mentioned, but as this: work is of bs Bower ae, eG may ha 
been intr 
scat 
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