74 VEHBENACBJE. 



V. 



V. Nog undo is tlio Lagondium of Runiphius, wlio states tliat 

 tlie leaves are used to preserve rice and clothes from insects 

 and to drive tliem away ; and tliat the Javanese women make an 

 extract from it Avhich they use as a carminative and cmmcna- 

 ^og-ue. In India the leaves are often placed between the leaves 

 of books to pxesetve them from insects. 



'a, Linn., is highly extolled by Bontius. [Bkeam 

 of India,, p. 226.) He speaks of it as anodyne, diuretic, and 

 emmenagogue, and testifies to the value of fomentations and 

 baths prepared with ' this noble herb,' as he terms it, in the 

 treatment of Beri-beri, and in the allied and obscure affection, 

 burning of the feet in natives. Of V. Nerjundo, Fleming 

 remarks {Aaiat. Researches, Vol. XI.) that its leaves have a 

 better claim to the title of discutient than any other yegetable 

 remedy with which he is acquainted. The mode of apphcation 

 followed by the natives is to put the fresh leaves into an 

 earthen pot and heat them over the fire till they are as 

 hot as can be borne without pain ; they are then applied 

 to the affected part, and kept in situ by a bandage; the 

 application is repeated three or four times a day until the 

 swelling subsides. Pillows of the dried leaves are sometimes 

 used to lie upon for cold in the head and headache. Dr. Ho^•t5 

 (1787; states that the Europeans in Bombay call it the fomen- 

 tation shrub, and that it is used in the hospitals there as a 

 foment in contractions of the limbs occasioned by the land winds. 

 In the Concan the juice of the leaves with that of ^laka [Edipta 

 alba) and Tulasi {Ocimnni sanctum) is extracted, and Ajw'm 

 seeds are bruised and steeped in it, and given in doses of six 

 mas^as for rheumatism. The juice in half tola doses with ghi 

 and black pepper is also given, and in splenic enlargement 

 2 tolas of the juice with 2 tolas of coav's iirine is given every 

 morning. A very interesting account of the treatment of 

 febrile, catarrhal, and rheumatic affections, as practised by the 

 people of Mysore, by means of a sort of rude vapour bath pre- 

 pared with this plant, is furnished by Dr. W. Ingledc^v. 

 {Ed... Mrd. and Sia-f/. Jouni,, Oct. 1817, p. 530.) Roxburgh 

 mentions the use of baths prepared with the aromatic Icuvci in 



