EVEPORBIACEJE 2S1 



potasli to convert oiie thousand grams of oil into potash soap 

 The fatty acids amounted to 94*1 per cent., melting at 39^, 

 containing some white crystalline plates melting at 67^. 



CROTON TIGLIUM, Linn, 



Fig, — BentL and Trim., t 239 ; Rheede^ HoH. MaL u», 

 t, 33. Purging Croton [Eng.), Croton cathartique (F/-.). 



Hab- — China, Cultivated in India, The seeds and oil. 



Vernacular. — Jaj^palj Jamalgota ( Kind. ), Jaypdl ( Beng,) , 

 Nipalo {Giiz.), Jamalgota (3fa.r,), Nepdla(Can., T6^/,),Nervalam 

 {Tarn.), Nirvalam [MaL)^ Kanako [Burm.). 



History, Uses, &C. — Croton seeds were not known to 



the ancient Hindu physicians ; in recent Sanskrit works they 

 are noticed under the names of Jayapala, Tittiriphala and 

 Kanakaphala, and are described as heavy, mucHaginous and 

 purgative, useful in fever, constipation, enlargements of the 

 abdominal viscera, ascites, anasarca, cough, &c., expelling bile 

 and phlegm. They are directed to be boiled in milk, the outer 

 skin and embryo having been removed, to fit them for internal 

 administration. The following prescription from the Bhava- 

 prakasa may be taken as an example : 



Mahanaracha rasa. — Take Chebulic myrobalans, pulp of 



/ 



milky juice of Eupfi 



neriiJoUa (snuhi), root of Ipoma^a Tiuyethujn (trivrit), and 

 the tubers of Cyperus rotundus (mustaka), each one tola : pound 

 them to a coarse powder, and boil in four seers of water 

 till the latter is reduced to one-eighth. Then take a tola of 

 husked C roton seeds, tie them in a piece of thin cloth, and boil 

 them in the abovementioned decoction, till the latter is reduced 

 to the consistence of a fluid extract. To this extract add a 

 powder composed of eight parts of purified Croton seeds, three 

 parts of ginger, and two of black pepper, mercury, and sulphur 

 in quantity sufficient to make a pill mass ; rub them together 

 for twelve hours, and make into two-grain pills. These are 



III.— 36 



