30 



best, inert'' or " useless, if not positively injiin'oiis" or (in some 

 oases) as not Iiaviiij^' "even the iu\Lr:itivi' cliafaclci- of ildinw- no 

 harm" hut " beinj»" positively in jiii-ioiis, feeihii'^- I lie disease iiis(e;itl 

 of siibilninu;- it." Examining- ('arel'iilly native ti'eatinent as derived 

 from various s >nrees we find it may he dividetl into nnissauls, 

 nahass or snuffs, lapi's or un^-uenta, and nnjnns or hichryniants. 



The MrssAULS consist of nuniei-ous int>-ietlients, ahnost all 

 derived from the ve<^et:ible kin<^-doin, ^-enerally of a stimulant, 

 tonii' eharaetei-, in doses very similar to those reijiiii'cd foi' the ox, 

 ami to I)e i^-iven in the form of a holiU'^ about the size of a- lime 

 twice a day or every morning*. Or else the form of drrnrh is 

 sug'g'ested, and we know that this is much preferable to a ball 

 for a ruminant animal; water, milk, and wine are used as \-ehieles. 

 It is evident that when a dose is made uj) of so many as fifteen 

 ingredients, the ])racticc of the prescriber is very much on the 

 " hit and miss ])rinciple," We observe the same peculiarities in 

 uative prescriptions for the elephant and bullock ; witli rei^ard to 

 the latter there can be no doubt that European practice is far 

 ahead of the native systems, and, so, Ave are in a positi(ui to 

 expose the utter ignorance of natives in treatment of diseases of 

 the ox ; it is reasonable to infer that the same ignorance and pre- 

 sumption which prevails in native treatment of cattle does so also 

 in the case of both elejdiant and camel, and all the evidence Ave 

 have bearing on the matter tends to prove that such is the case. 

 We elsewhere deal with Canieliue Materia Medica in e.i'teitso. 



Nahass or snufp consists of aromatic substances, not so nu- 

 merous generally as those composing mussauls, powdevi d and 

 blown into the nostrils. Examining the iirst of these which 

 comes to hand we find it extremely bulky and unwieldy for this 

 form of administration, Aveighing a tola each of the following 

 jiOAvders, barringtonia, alum, galls, calombo, long pepjier root, 

 cloves, and assafoetida; this to be given twice a day; Avhich 

 sounds rather "rough" on the camel. There can be no hesitfition 

 in concluding that the bloAving of about three ounces of irritant 

 powder twice a day into the nostrils of a camel suffering say 

 from Pneumonia must speedily terminate the case, by death of 

 the patient, therefore this line of treatment as suggested by the 

 natives must not be copied by officials in charge of Transj-)ort 

 animals. 



