ee Mae Sette ah ee em) ees Fas! ea bee 
SAXTIFRAGACE. 585 
_ its aperient properties, it is supposed to strengthen the liver, 
- stomach and intestines, and to counteract the hot humours 
which are liable to be generated in those organs. It is also 
valued as an expectorant> 
Description.—Shirkhisht occurs in small yellowish- 
white granules about the size of millet seed, mixed with the 
small ovoid leaves of Cotoneaster. It readily dissolves in the 
mouth, leaving a sweet cool taste. 
Chemical composition.—M. Raby (Union Pharm., May 1889, 
p. 201,) finds it to contain about 8°3 per cent. of glucese, 4°1 per 
cent. of cane sugar, or an analagous sucrose, and about 50 per 
cent. of anew sugar, which he proposes to call chirkhesttte. 
He separated it by removing the glucose and sucrese by fer- 
mentation with beer yeast. Chirkhestite has a composition 
_represented. by the formula C°H'*0%, and appears to belong to 
the mannite group; it is nearly related to sorbite, sorbite 
melting a little below 100° C. and chirkhestite at 112° C. 
Sorbite does not affect polarized light, but chirkhestite does, 
although it appears doubtful whether or no this action is due 
to impurities. Chirkhestite dissolves in less than half its 
weight of cold water. (Pharm. Journ., June 8th, 1889.) 
SAXIFRAGACE, 
- SAXIFRAGA LIGULATA, Wall. 
Fig.— Hook. Brot. Fl. t., t. 49; Bot. Mag., t. 3406, 
Hab.—Temperate Himalaya. The rhizome. 
Vernacular.—Bat-pia, Popal, Ban-patrak, Dakachra (Hind.), 
Pashinbhed, Pakhénbhed (Indian Bazars), Atia, Torongsingh, 
(Khasia), Sohanpe-soah (Nipal). 
History, Uses, &c.—The rhizome is a well-known 
Indian drug, and is described by Sanskrit writers under the 
“mamé of Pishéna-bheda or “stone-breaker.” It is supposed 
to dissolve gravel or stone in the bladder, and to act as a 
i. oar 
