186 riPEEACEJE. 



Susruta, it is aromatic, carminative, stimulant, and astringent. 

 It sweetens tlie breath, improves the voice, and removes all 

 foulness from the mouth. According: to other writers it acts 

 as an aphrodisiac. Medicinally it is said to be useful in diseases 

 supposed to be caused by deranged phlegm, and its juice is 

 much used as an adjunct to pills administered in these diseases, 

 the pills being rubbed into an emulsion with the juice of the 

 betle-leaf and licked up. Being always at hand, Fan leaves are 

 used as a domestic remedy in various ways. The stalk of the 

 leaf smeared with oil is introduced into the rectum in constipa- 

 tion and tympanitis of children, with the object of inducing the 

 bowels to act. The leaves are applied to the temples in headache 

 for relieving pain, to painful and swollen glands for promoting 

 absorption, and to the mammary gland with the object of 

 <5hecking the secretion of milk. Pan leaves are used as a 

 ready dressing for foul ulcers, which seem to improve under 

 Tthem/' 



The spittle, after chewing jxin siq^driy is red, and is freely 

 ejected by natives, preferably over recently white- washed 

 walls ; the dry stains are often mistaken by the police for blood 

 stains, and pieces of plaster, leaves, grass, &c., thus stained 

 have frequently been forwarded to the Chemical Examiner, 

 Bengal, for detection of blood ! 



Of late years the medicinal properties of betle leaves have 

 been investigated in Europe. Dr- Kleinstuck of Zwatzen, near 

 Jena, has found that the essential oil is of much use in catarrhal 

 affections, inflammations of the throat, larynx and bronchi ; it 

 has an antiseptic action. He has also used it in diphtheria as a 

 gargle and by inhalation. The dose is one drop in one hundred 

 grams of water. In India the juice of four leaves may be used 

 similarly diluted. 



Ctdiivation,~'l\iQ betle garden {]^an-mala) is a work of art. 



The best 



fatal to it. 



soda 



s\v 



be perfectly 



«^ .^ .V. ^ ut- >v i^^ix luuat last tnroughout the year, be periecuv 

 .a, nnd not more than forty feet deep, otherwise the cost of 



