COMPOSIT&. 979 
d Dakhanie appeliations are nearly the same, ‘The pungency 
the pellitory root is not perceived tillit has been chewed 
for a few seconds, when it occasions’ at first a glowing 
heat in the mouth soon followed -by pricking sensation 
in ‘the tongue and lips. The Vytians prescribe an infusion 
f it, in conjunction with the lesser galangal and 
inger, as a cordial and stimulant in lethargic cases, in 
palsy, and in-certain stages of typhus fever; they also order 
it tobe chewed, as a crue aie tal for the toothache. It 
certainly possesses powerful stimul t properties, but is scarcely 
ever employed in Europe as an internal remedy; though it 
has beer found useful as a sialagogue, and as such, Dr. Thom- 
Son says, has been given with success in some kinds of head- 
ache, apoplexy, chronic ophthalmia, and rheumatic affections 
of the face.” (Mat. Ind. I., 800.) Mahometan writers consider 
pellitory to be discutient and attenuant; they prescribe it 
chiefly in paralytic affections, which they suppose to be caused 
by phlegmatic humours. The Arabic name Akarkarha* is said 
to = derived from Akar and takrih, and to mean ‘causing a 
> Celsus mentions its use for opening the mouths of 
Sana. (Lib. v., cap. iv.) The Arabian physicians in the 
ys of Avicenna preacrified pellitory in rigors. In India it 
_ is often given to parrots to make them talk, 
Description.—The root as found in the shops is saiglh 
} to 4 inches long by # to 4 of an inch thick, cylindrical or 
tapering, sometimes terminated at the top by the bristly 
remains of leaves, and having only a few hair-like rootlets. It 
has a brown, rough, shrivelled surface, is compact and brittle, 
the fractured surface being radiate and destitute of pith. The 
bark, at most 1-25th of an inch thick, adheres closely to the 
ood, a narrow zone of cambium intervening The woody 
lumn is traversed by large medullary rays in which, as inthe 
irks, numerous dark resin-ducts are scattered. The root hag 5 
a ae aromatic smell, and a Lisikiviomes ee — - 
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