12 TINOSPORA CORDIFOLIA 



by large medullary rays separating the woody portion into a 

 corresponding number of wedge-shaped bundles, which have a very 

 porous structure, but no concentric layers. Gulancha has no 

 odour, but a very bitter taste. In the Bengal Dispensatory, the 

 root is described by O'Shaughnessy, to be of large size, and soft 

 and spongy. 



Nothing satisfactory is known of the chemical composition 

 of Gulancha. Its infusion is not blackened by a persalt of iron. 

 The bitter principle to which it owes its properties does not 

 appear to have been examined. 



Medical Properties and Uses. Gulancha is reputed to possess 

 tonic, antiperiodic, and diuretic properties. Its uses were more 

 especially made known by Dewan Eamcomul Sen, in 1827, and 

 its properties have been subsequently testified to by 0' Shaughnessy, 

 Waring, and many other Indian practitioners. Waring says, 

 Gulancha renders "the Indian practitioner in a great measure 

 independent of foreign medicines of the same class. It is a 

 remedy highly esteemed by the Hindoos, and one which might be 

 advantageously admitted into European practice, being abundant, 

 cheap, and efficacious as a general tonic. The extract, called by 

 the Hindoos Palo, is considered to be possessed of great power/' 

 It is of more value as a bitter tonic than as an antiperiodic. 



Gulancha is regarded as especially valuable in general debility 

 after fevers and other exhausting diseases. It is also reputed to 

 be a useful remedy in secondary syphilitic affections, chronic rheu- 

 matism, and mild forms of intermittents. Speaking of its 

 employment as an antiperiodic, Waring states, that he employed 

 it in twenty cases of ordinary quotidian fevers, in Burmah ; and in 

 each case it prevented the accession of the cold stage, but it did 

 not appear to diminish the severity, or prevent the regular return 

 of the hot stage, a peculiarity, he adds, not observed by him in 

 the use of any other remedy of the same class. 



Gulancha is also regarded by the natives in certain parts of 

 India, as a specific for the bites of poisonous insects and venomous 

 snakes. 



Waring' s Man. Pract. Therap., p. 245; Bengal Dispensatory, 



