E UFB OBBTA OEM 297 



is also prescribed for worms in combination witb the seeds 

 of Emhelia Rihes (vaverang), cbebulic myrobalans, carbonate 

 of potash, and rock salt. [Chahradatta.) The Arabs became 

 acquainted with Kampilla at an early date, and through them 

 it appears to have reached Europe, and to have been known to 

 the later Greek physicians about the 7th century, Ibn 

 Massowiyeh, physician to the Caliph Haroon-el-Raschid, speaks 

 of it as highly astringent, a good anthelmintic, and a useful 

 application to moist eruptions of the skin, which it soon dries 

 up. It is also mentioned by Razij Tamimi, Baghd^di, Ibn 

 Sina, Ibn Baitar and others, all of whom appear to have been 

 in much doubt as to its nature, but distinguish it from Wars, 

 a product of Arabia, the source of which they were acquainted 

 with, Ibn Sina says of Kanbil : — " It is in grains like sand, 

 red, but less so than TFars^ hot and dry in the third degree ; 

 Ibn Massowiyeh considers to be highly astringent; it kills 

 worms and flukes of the intestines and expels them." Of 

 TFars, he says : — ^^It is a substance like powdered saffron, of an 



intense red colour ( ^il5 



from 



from 



third degr 



application to pimples^ 



freckles, &c." (A number of skin eruptions are named, the exact 

 nature of which is doubtful.) 



The author oi t}ie Makhzany. "nIolo wrote in India (1770), is 

 strangely ignorant of the source of this drug. He says : 

 ** Kinbil is an Arabic form of the Persian Kampilla and Hindi 

 Kamila"; he then recapitulates the various opinions held 

 as to the source of the drug, and concludes by saying : 

 *^ I have heard that it is the pulp of the fruit of a mountain- 

 tree like the Ma^asfar^ but its leaves are rather larger, and it ia 

 armed with long stiff thorns, and has fruit like a lime, which 

 is green when young and red when ripe ; when ripe it bursts 

 open and a dull-red substance escapes and falls on the ground : 

 this is collected,, and is Eanbil/* Regarding its properties, he 

 says that in doses of from 1 to 2 dirhems rubbed into an 

 emulsion with any suitable vehicle it expels all kinds of intes- 

 tinal worms, and at the same time acts as a purgative. Speaking 



in." 38 



