452 LEGUMINOSZ, . 
History , Uses, &c.—The Indian Coral tree; in Sanskrit — 
_ Parfjata or Périjétaka and Méndéra,-is supposed to flower im _ 
_Indra’s garden. An episode in the Purands relates the quarrels — 
of Rakhmini and Satyabhéma for the possession of the flowers — 
which Krishna had stolen from the garden. ‘hi leaf is sup- ~ 
posed to represent the Hindu trinity, the middle leaflet is — 
Vishnu, on his right is Brahma, and on his left Shiva. The - 
Portuguese have named them “ Folhas da Trinidade.”* Rheede. 
Says that the leaves are discutient, aud that their juice is given ~ 
for syphilis. Rumphius relates that the leaf-juice is applied to F 
ulcers to clean them, and that cooked with cocoanut milk the — 
leaves are’ used internally and externally as a galactagogue’ — 
and emmenagogue. The bark is used in dysentery. (Hort. — 
Amb. tii., 33.) Loureiro.and Wight state that the bark is used — 
as a febrifuge. “Dr. Kani Lal Dé, in a communication to the — 
Calcutta Exhibition Catalogue, says:—“It.is anthelmintic and al 
useful as a collyriam in ophthalmia. The leaves are applied 7 
externally to disperse venereal buboes and to relieve pain in — 
the joints.” In the Concan, the juice of the bark and young ~ 
leaves is used to kill worms in sores and to disperse tumours; | 
the young roots of the white-flowered variety are pounded and 4 
given with cold milk as an aphrodisiac. MM. Corre and “ 
Lejanne (Resumé de la Mat. Med. Coloniale) state that the - 
bark is: expectorant and febrifuge, and the leaves laxative and 4 
diuretic. In the Brazils the bark-is used. as a hypnotic. a 
The first physiological experiments’ made with the bark of 4 
this tree were those of MM. Bochefontaine and Rey, who com- ~ 
municated the results arrived at by them to the Académie des 4 
Sciences in 1881 ; they | concluded that. the drug acts upon the 4 
central nervous system so as to diminish or abolish its functions. ~ 
MM. Pinet and Duprat resumed the study of the action of 
this drag upon frogs in 1886, and communicated the follow- 
ing results to the Société de Biologie :—One centigram of the — 
_ watery extract of the bark was introduced under the skin of the 
right hind leg ofa frog, weighing 30 grams. ‘This caused con- 
a siderable a irritation, but at he. ond of 25 to 30 minutes the 
| ; placed on its back k it remained in that 
