400 8C1TAMINEM 



are, as far as lifs experience goes, four drugs sold as Jadwar, 

 viz., a wliitc kind, a purplisli, a black and a yellow ; the people 

 of Catliay call tlie yellow kind Kurti and tlie purplish Bnrbi, 

 the other two kinds come from India. As to the locality iu 

 which the drug is collected, he states that there is a mountain 

 called Farajal between India and Cathay, where the plant grows 

 along with the aconite, and that the latter, whenever it grows 

 near the Jadwar, loses its poisonous j^roj^erties and is eaten with 

 impunity by the inhabitants. Where the Jadwar does not grow, 

 the aconite (Bish) is a deadly poison, and is called Ilalahal by 

 the natives (Ilalahala, Sanskrit). In the Diet. Econ. Prod, 

 of India (ii.^p. 656), the following interesting account of certain 

 drugs collected in Nepal by Dr. Gimlette, the Residency Surgeon, 

 substantially confirms Haji-Zein's description of Jadwar or 

 JsTirbisi :— According to Dr. Gimlette, ''the Kala hikh oi the 

 Nepalese (the Dulingi of the Bhoteas) is a very poisonous form 

 of Aconiiiim ferox^ so poisonous. Indeed, that the Katmandu 

 druggists will not admit they possess any, Pahio (yellow) htkh 

 is a less poisonous form of the same plant, known to the 

 Bhoteas as Ilolimji, while Setho (white) hikli (the JSirbisi sen oi 

 the Bhoteas) is A. NapcUus^ and Atis is Aconitum hetero- 

 phi/Ilmn. The aconite adulterants or plants used for similar 

 purposes are, Cynanthm lohatm^ the true Nirbisi of Nepal, the 

 root of which is boiled in oil, thus forming a liniment which 

 is employed in chronic rheximiitism. Delphinium demidatum^ 

 the Nilo (blue or purplish) hikh of the Nepalese and the Nirbisi 

 of the Bhoteas, Dr. Gimlette says, is used by the Baids of Nepal 

 for the same purposes as the Setho andFahlo hikh. Geraniiini 

 coUinum [var-Donianum) is the Ratho (red) hikhoi the Nepalese, 

 and the JSfirhin-niini of the Bhoteas, and, like the Setho hikhy is 

 given as a tonic in dys]3epsia, fevers, and asthma. Lastly, a 

 plant never before recorded as used medicinally, namely, 

 Caragana crassicaulis, is known as the Arfiras of the Nepalese, 

 and the Kurti of the Bhoteas; it affords a root which is 

 emj)loyed as a febrifuge." 



The Jadwar or Nirbisi myth appears to have been invented 

 m the East to account for the curious occurrence on the 



