460 BOGANTACE, 
, it has. been- supposed by some that nux:vomica was’ the 
Jouz-el:mathil of. the early Arabian writers, but this drug is 
described by Ibn Sina.as studded with thick thorns, and as 
producing torpor when.eaten ; it is considered by all the more 
recent Mahometan writers to be Datura. The Jouz-el-kai of 
the Arabs has: also been supposed to be nux-vomica, but there 
would seem to be no foundation for such. a belief, as it is de- 
scribed as having. properties. similar to Jous-el-mathil, and is 
probably the fruit of a Trichilia. All the Indian Mahometan 
physicians describe nux-vomica under the name.of Azaraki; 
of this drug Ibn Sina merely says it is a kind of Zabad-el-bahr 
(foam of the sea), a name given by the Arabs to the cuttle- 
fish bone; he adds that is is not used internally, but apphed 
externally in. skin diseases and sciatica. Haji Zein-el-Attér 
(A.D, 1368) is the first who clearly identifies Azéréki with the 
Indian drug Kuchula ; he gives the-same description of its uses 
as Ibn Sina, and says. the antidotes for it are fresh milk and 
oil (these are. the popular antidotes for it at the present day 
in India, but in Madras dog excrement is also used). In the 
Makhzan-pl-adwiya azdéraki is said to be a Syrian word, but 
it appears to us more probable that it has been manu- 
factured by the Syrian physicians, who instructed the Arabs 
in Greek medicine, from the words éa and paxia, and that 
it intended to be a Greek rendering of the Arabic Zabad-el- 
bahr. The author of tht Makhzan gives Kuchile as the Indian 
Indian, name for nux-vomica, but says it is best known in Hin- 
_dustan (Northern India) as Nirbhedin (a Sanskrit word which 
Signifies splitting asunder,. derived from fafyz ). Nux-vomica is 
pot mentioned by Garcia d’Orta who was in Goa, where the tree 
is, Very common, about the middle of the 16th century—a toler- 
ably clear proof that it was not used medicinally at that time 
but his. contemporary Valerius Cordus in Europe. deseribes 
jt accurately. The seeds do not appear to have been used 
medicinally. until -about: the middle of the 17th century, but 
Rheede mentions the root as an established remedy in Malabar, 
and .we have much earlier. records of its use on the Western 
Coast as.a substitute for the tras Lignum Colubrinum, a-drug 
