SCITAMINE^, 421 



-names, sueli as Mahausliadha ^^ great remedy/' Visra " perva- 

 der/' YisYa-blieshaja '^panacea/* Sringavera ''antlered/' Katu- 

 badra 'HLe good acrid/' &c. When dried it is known as 

 Suntlii and Nagara in distinction from Ardraka " fresh 

 gin O'er.'' In the Nighantas it is described as acrid and 

 digestive, useful for tlie removal of cold Lumors, costiveness, 

 nausea, asthma, cough, colic, palpitation of the heart, t3au- 

 panitis, swellings, piles, &c. Ginger is one of the three acrids 

 (trikatu) of the Hindu physicians, the other two being black 

 pepper and long j)eppor ; combined with other spices and 

 sugar, as in the preparations known as SamaHcirlcara chnrna and 

 SaiihJiagi/a suntht, it is given in dyspepsia and loss of appetite. 

 In rheumatism preparations of ginger and other spices with 

 butter are given internally, and it" is an ingredient in oils used 

 for external application. The juice of the fresh tubers, with or 

 without the juice of garlic, mixed with honey, is a favourite 

 domestic remedy for cough and asthma, with lime juice it is 

 used in bilious dyspepsia, and a paste of dry ginger and warm 

 water is applied to the forehead to relieve headache. In Western 

 India, ginger juice, with a little honey and a pinch of burnt 

 peacock's feathers, is the popular remedy for vomiting. In 

 old Persian we find the names Shmgabir or Shangahir and 

 Adrak applied to ginger, and it was probably through the 

 Persians that the Gi'eeks first became acquainted with it, as 

 their C^yy^l^^pt is evidently derived from the Sanskiit Srhigavera 

 throu<^h the Persian form of the word. Tlie Arabic name 

 Zanjahil is of similar origin, the chief difference being tbe 

 substitution of the letter J for g, whicli is not in the Arabian 

 alphabet. 



Ginger is described by Dioscorides as hot, digestive, gently 

 laxative, stomachic and having all the properties of pepper ; it 

 M'as an ingredient in collyria and antidotes to poison. Pliny 

 notices it in his diopter on peppers, but very briefly, and it does 

 not appear to have been regarded as an article of much 

 importance in his time. 



In the second century of our era, ginger is mentioned as liable 

 to duty (vectigal) at Alexandria along w^ith other Indian spices. 



