SANTALACEjE. 233 



a paste of the wood is directed to be applied externally to in- 

 flanimatory affections of the skin, and is a domestic remedy for all 

 kinds of pains and aches. Under the name of gandh (perfume), 

 it is largely used in Hindu ceremonial, being smeared upon 

 idols and upon the foreheads of their worshippers. The wood 

 is chiefly consumed at the eJtita or funeral i)ile, even compara* 

 tively poor people spending as much as iifty rupees upon it. 

 The Parsees also use it at their funeral ceremonies. Mahometan 

 medical writers, commencing with Masih and Ibn Sina, call 

 the wood Sandal, and follow the Hindus in distinguishing^ the 



dark-coloured portion from the light. The author of the 

 Jl/i^M^an describes it as cold and dry, cardiacal, tonic, astringent, 

 alexipharmic, antaphrodisiac, a resolvent of inflammatory 

 swellings, &c. He recommends an emulsion in bilious fever, on 

 account of its cooling and protective influence over the heart, 

 brain, stomach, &c. As an external application a paste made with 

 rosewater and camphor, or with sarcocolla and white of egg, may 

 be applied to relieve headache, or to any kind of inflammatory 

 swelling or skin affection. Sometimes the paste is made with the 

 juices of herbs, such as purslane^ nightshade, &c. Ainslie states 

 that in Southern India sandalwood given with milk is regarded 

 as a valuable remedy in gonorrhooa. Rumphius (ii., p. 42) 

 mentions a similar use of it at Amboyna. In the Concan 

 sandalwood oil with cardamoms and bamboo manna is given in 

 gonorrhoea, and mixed with limejuice and camphor it is usedaa 

 a cooling application to eruptions, &c. A conserve of sandal- 

 wood is also made by boiling the wood cut in small pieces in 

 bangar-khar (impure carbonate of potash) and water (4 seers 

 sandal, half a seer bangar-khar, and 32 seers water), until it is 

 quite soft* It is then preserved in a thick s^^rup. Sandalwood 

 was known to the Greeks from the time of Alexander. Arrian 

 mentions ^i^^a a-ayaXlm among the Indian imports into Oman in 



the Persian Gulf. Constantinus Africanus, a physician of 

 the School of Salerno, appears to have been the first to use 

 it medicinally in Europe, In the Thannacopceia of India, 

 Dr. M. Ross is stated to have subjected the wood to trial, and 

 found that whilst its effects as a stimulant were very slight, its 



III.— 30 



