COMPOSIT A. 299 
2nd—Dried and powdered as a hair wash. 
_ 8rd—As a stimulant in cholera; an infusion is made of 
. ‘Cardamoms 1 dr.; fresh ‘Kut’ 3 drs.; Water 4 ozs. One . 
ounce every half hour. It is doubtless a powerful aromatic 
stimulant, and would be serviceable in any spasmodic disease. 
_ 4th —It is universally employed by the shawl merchants as. 
_ a protector of Cashmere fabrics from the attacks of moth and 
other vermin. 
_ 5th—The dried root is an agreeable pean seeoee and yields 
excellent pastilles, which burn fairly. 
3 6th—It is exported in enormous quantities to China, where 
it is used as an incense. In every Hong it is found; no man- 
: darin will give an audience until the ‘ patchak’ incense smokes | 
3 before him; in every Joss-house it smoulders before the 
_ Tri-budh deity ; in every floating junk in the Chinese rivers, 
the only house of countless hordes, Budh’s image is found, 
_ and the smoke of the Patchak religiously wends its way heaven- 
ward. As to its uses in China, Dr. Porter Smith says that 
_ it is used in making incense in the South, or to preserve clothes 
from the attacks of moths and other insects. It is said to have 
_ the power of turning grey hair black. Carminative, stimulant, 
_ antiseptic, prophylactic, astringent, sedative, and insecticidal 
properties are referred to this remedy. The Chinese apply it 
: with musk, which it resembles in odour and properties, to 
| aching teeth.” 
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Description.—Costus oceurs in crooked twisted pieces 
about 3 inches long, and from 4 to 14 inch in diameter, almost 
always split. Externally it is brown, marked by longitudinal 
ridges, and has a rough and somewhat reticulated surface, 
Its substance is compact and brittle, the. fractured surface 
having a resinous appearance and dirty. white colour. The 
central portion is generally absent, and appears to have been 
removed by decay before the root was collected. The taste is — 
_ bitter, pungent and camphoraceous ; the odour sco at 
of fresh violets or orris root. ae 
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