_ ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY. 69 
so frequent in Senegal: mixed with tamarinds it is considered by the natives a certain cure 
for dysentery, while the gum is equally prized as a remedy against heat of urine. As this tree 
is not uncommon in India now, and as I can bear testimony to the correctness of the description 
of the sensible qualities of the pulp, it seems desirable that it should be subjected to some trials 
to ascertain whether the curative properties attributed to this substance, not by vulgar report 
only, but by attentive medical men, who have had many opportunities of observing its effects 
and have themselves used it, are such as they describe. According to the predominating 
theories of the day, all these intestinal affections are attributed to an inflammatory or sub- 
inflammatory state of the lining membranes of the intestines, for which acidulous emollient 
drinks are strongly recommended. Such a combination of acidulous and aperient emollients 
seem therefore well suited to fulfil the indications of cure laid down for the treatment of the 
milder forms of these complaints, and which,according to the French school, are the only certain 
ones in the cure of these diseases so frequent in hot countries and seasons. We are indebted 
to Dr. Louis: Frank, a French physician, who witnessed the mode of treatment pursued in dy- 
sentery in the caravans travelling from Nubia to Cairo, and had in that situation an opportunity 
of observing the good effects of the remedy, which he afterwards most successfully adopted, 
for much of the information we possess regarding the medical properties of the fruit of the 
Boabab tree. I extract hisaccount as given in Merat’s and DeLens’ Dictionnaire Universel de 
Mat: Medicale, of the method of using it for the cure of dysentery. 
On the first appearance of the disease the patient restricts himself to a very spare diet, 
using for drink a weak decoction of tamarinds. If the isease does not speedily abate he then 
has recource to the fruit of the Boabab, which some precede by small doses of rhubarb. It is 
the spongy redish friable substance of the fruit that is used. If there is no amendment at the 
end of a few days, a paste is made of the powdered bark of the fruit mixed with water, of which 
about the size of a chesnut is given several times in the course of the day, and sometimes a 
drink is prepared of the torrified seeds, of which the patient takes repeated doses daily. 
In one case of dysentery of twenty-five days standing, in which Dr. Frank prescribed this 
fruit « it cured as if by enchantment.”—Many other patients were thus treated with equal suc- 
cess, 
- The following interesting account of this tree was drawn up by Dr. Hooker, and published 
in the Botanical Magazine, Nos. 2791—92. 
« The Apansonta digitata, Ermoprtas Sour Gourp, Monxiey Brean, or Baosas, is a 
native of Senegal. It is said likewise to be found in Egypt and Abyssinia, and is besides cul- 
tivated in many of the warmer parts of the world. There seems to be no question that it is the 
largest known tree; the diameter of the trunk, Adanson says, being sometimes no less than 
thirty feet. Although it has been introduced into Britain, according to the Hortus Kewensis, 
so long ago as the year 1724, by William Sherard, Esq. yet, as may be supposed, so vast a tree 
is not likely, in our stoves, to arrive at that size, when its flowers and fruit may be expected. 
Hence, I trust, that representations of so great a rarity, taken, in part, from drawings made in 
India, and kindly lent to me by Major General Hardwicke, and in part, from specimens of the 
fruit and flowers sent to me in spirits, by Mr. Guilding, from St. Vincent, may be generally 
acceptable to the Botanical world. ; 8 
Adanson, during ‘his visit to Senegal, has given a full and interesting account of this tree, 
and, certainly, not the least striking circumstances respecting it are, ‘ts enormous size, and its 
great age, whence it has been called “ Arbre de mille Ans,” and whence too, Humboldt has 
been led to speak of it as, “ the oldest organic monument of our planet.” Its trunk, indeed, 
reat as is its diameter, has a height by no means proportionable to its breadth. Adanson cal- 
culates as follows; ‘hat a tree of 
I year old is I in. or I} in. diameter, 5 in. in height. 
Yt I foot 15 
eaees eae 
4000 ees cw dS cotesnt nee 
AMS 5 oo ina, IO ae eed ee 
5150 ceo Stl vt eee iued cekeev re 
