274 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. X, 



Suro-eon-General E. Balfour of Madras also states* that the aromatic 

 roots of A. decapetalum [synonyms A, hexapetalum (Roxb.), and 

 A. tomentosum (Lam., CO.)] are used by natives in snake-bites. This 

 observation has the same vagueness to which I have just referred above . 

 Surgeon Lee of Mangalore f distinctly says, however, that powder of 

 the bai-k (40 grains made into a bolus) is given in cases of cobra- 

 poisoning. He is not decided, however, in saying that it is a cure. 

 He remarks that the root is well worth trying in cases of cobra-bite. 



The following observations from the writings of Hindu writers may 

 be usefully read in connection with the properties of the plant under 

 notice. According to the quotation from Shiva Datta given by Kata 

 Bhat of Junagadh (vide his compilation entitled " Nighant Sangraha," 

 p. 123), the spine-bearing, white-flowered, red-fruited sjyeciesj or call 

 it variety J if you will, has a thick root, which is distinctly cathartic and 

 emetic. In Narhar Pandit's Raj-Nighanta, it is mentioned that the 

 oil expressed from the seed also is cathartic {vide p. 84, Benares 

 Edition, 1883). In Madan Pal's "Nighanta" (Calcutta Edition of Shri 

 Bhuvan Chandra Basu, 1886, p. 13), the plant is supposed to possess 

 hypercathartic properties. In the yet more recent work known to 

 Marathi readers as "Nighanta Ratnakar,"| it is stated in five Sanskrit 

 sklokas (stanzas) that the juice of the entire plant is emetic and highly 

 purgative, i. e., productive of watery, alvine discharges. The author- 

 ship of the shlohas is not declared, but I think we may safely believe 

 that they convey the experience of the ancients. In passing, I may 

 observe that in this work the juice of the plant is credited with the 

 property of curing the poisonous bites of bad snakes, and also those 

 of " dogs, mice, and cats ! " Rather a large order this, and of doubtful 

 curative powers. The writer goes further, and credits the juice of the 

 plant with the still more doubtful property of driving the devil (Sans- 

 l^rit — FisMcJi-pida) out of human kind ! I know no individual of the 

 vegetable kingdom yet that can be said to possess such a quality. The 

 " devil " may be safely said to have it all his own way, in spite of the 

 curative resources of the vegetable kingdom. The " devil's kingdom " 

 is unassailable by the members of the vegetable world. 



The " Encyclopredia" of India, vol. i, p. 63 ; 3rd Ed., London. 

 -|- See Watt's Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, p. 154, vol. i, 1889, Calcutta. 

 X Published in Bombay in three volumes iu 1867 by Vishnu Va&udev Godbole. {8ec pp, 

 20, 21,voli.) 



