WANTHACEjJ^. 47 



Both Hindu and Mahometan medical writers would appear 

 "to have confouuded this drug with chiretta.* According to 

 Forskahl, it is common in Arabia, and is there called JFtzr. 

 {Forsk. Flor. Aeg. Ar., CII.) 



Moodin Sheriff points out that Cara Caniram^ the name given 

 to this plant by Hheede, signifies "Black Strychnos ;'' he there- 

 fore thinks it must be incorrect. 



Ainslie speaks of the plant as having been brought to the 

 southern parts of the Indian Peninsula from the Isle of 

 France. 



Fliickiger and Hai^bury in their PharinacograpJiia point out 

 that it has been wrongly supposed to be a constituent of the 

 famous bitter tincture called by the Portuguese of India Droga 

 amara. In the JPharinacopceia of India it has been made official, 

 and directions for making a compound infusion and compound 

 tincture are given. Quite recently, under the name of Salviva, 

 which appears to be a corruption of the Bengali word alni or 

 alvh a preparation of the drug has been advertised in England 

 as a substitute for quinine. The herb is very common in shady 

 situations as a weed of cultivation, and is much used by the natives 

 as a domestic remedy for fever in combination with aromatics, 

 especially with lemon-grass. The dose of tbe dried leaves is 

 about ten grains combined with twenty grains of black pepper. 

 In the Concan, Kirait, Ginger, and Dikamali are given in fever, 

 and the fresh juice with black pepper, rock salt^ and Asafoetida 

 in colic. In the cbronic febrile condition known as Bariktdp^ 

 Kirait, Ginger, Picrorhiza root, wild dates, and Conessi bark are 

 infused and given with honey every morning. A. echioides 

 Nees^ is said to have similar medicinal properties ; it is the 

 Peetumha of Rheede (ix., 46), who says that .the juice is 



given in fever. Haplanthus verticillaris, iV^^s, and 



H. tentaculatus, Nees, bear the name of Kala-kirait 

 in Western India, and are used medicinally. The Hindi 

 name for these two plants is Kastula and the Marathi 



Jhdnkara, - 



♦ The name Kiryat is loosely applied to many bitter drugs. 



