OLEUM SE8AM1. 473 



History — It is probable that in ancient Hindu medicine this plant 

 was administered indiscriminately with chiretta, which, with several 

 other species of Ophdla, is known in India by nearly the same vernacular 

 names. Ainslie asserts that it was a component of a famous bitter 

 tincture called by the Portuguese of India iJroga arnara; but on con- 

 sulting the authority he quotes* we find that the bitter employed in 

 that medicine was Calumba. Atidro'jr aphis is known in Bengal as 

 Mahd-tita, literally king of bitters, from the Sanskrit tikta, " bitter," a 

 title of which it has been thought so far deserving that it has been 

 admitted to a place in the Pharmaco2Xjeia of India. 



Description — The straight, knotty branch stems are obtusely 

 quadrangular, about \ of an inch thick at the base, of a dark green 

 colour and longitudinally furrowed. The leaves are opposite, petiolate, 

 lanceolate, entire, the largest h an inch or more wide and 3 inches long. 

 Their upper surface is dark green, the under somewhat lighter, and as 

 seen under a lens finely granular. The leaves are very thin, brittle, and, 

 like the stems, entirely glaVuous. 



In the well-dried specimen before us, for which we are indebted to 

 Dr. G. Bidie of Madras, flowers are wanting and only a few roots are 

 pi'esent. The latter are tapering and simple, emitting numerous thin 

 rootlets, greyish externally, woody and whitish within. The plant is 

 inodorous and has a persistent pure bitter ta.ste. 



Chemical Composition — The aqueous infusion of the herb exhibits 

 a slight acid reaction, and has an intensely bitter taste, w^hich appeai-s 

 due to an indifferent, non-basic principle, for the usual reagents do not 

 indicate the presence of an alkaloid. Tannic acid on the other hand 

 produces an abundant precipitate, a compound of itself with the bitter 

 principle. The infusion is but little altered by the salts of iron; it 

 contains a considerable quantity of chloride of sodium. 



Uses — Emploj'cd as a pure bitter tonic like quassia, gentian, or 

 chii'etta, with the last of which it is sometimes confounded. 



SESAMEiE. 



OLEUM SESAMI. 



Sesame Oily Gingeli, Gingili or Jinjili Oil, Til or Teel Oil, Benne Oil; 

 F. Huile de Sesame; G. Sesamol. 



Botanical Origin — Sesamum indicum DC, an erect, pubescent 

 annual herb, 2 to 4 feet high,^ indigenous to India, but propagated by 

 cultivation throughout the warmer regions of the globe, and not now 

 found anywhere in the wild state. In Europe, Sesamuni is only grown 

 in some districts of Turkey and Greece, and on a small scale in Sicily 

 and in the islands of Malta and Gozo. It does not succeed well even 

 in the South of France. 



History — Sesame is a plant which we find on the authority of the 



' Paolino da San Bartolomeo, Voyage to - Fig. in Beutley and Trimen's Med. 



the East /tulie^ (177G-1789), translated from Plants, part 23 (1877). 

 the German, Loud. 1800, pp. 14. 409. 



