THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 171 



Now let me turn to the consideration of what constitutes the 

 poisonous nature of the plant. Rheede was not unacquainted with 

 the poisonous nature of the root of this plant. His knowledge on 

 this score was mainly derived from the native Vaidyas, learned in the 

 existing flora of the Malabar tract of this country, who 

 materially helped him in the production of that encyclopsediac 

 work, known as the Hortus Malabaricus. " The root," says he, 

 " causes abortion." I may be permitted to add that the bark 

 is equally mischievous. Last year, I had to give evidence in 

 an abortion case before Mr. Patwardhan, the District Deputy 

 Collector and First-class Magistrate of Thana. In this case, the 

 woman, who had successfully used the bark, admitted she had done 

 so. From 2 to 3 lbs. of the pounded bark had been used externally 

 on the hypogastric and pubic regions for the distinct purpose of 

 procuring abortion. The woman was a poor unfortunate middle- 

 aged widow — and the fate of poor helpless young or middle-aged 

 widows is very hard in this country ; she had been deceived and 

 saddled with the burden of a growing foetus ; to avoid disgrace she 

 tried to destroy the foetus, and she succeeded. This is an instance 

 of how the Moringa bark is abortive. O'Shaughnessy does not 

 notice it in his Bengal Dispensatory. All that he says is that 

 the root reduced to a pulp affords an external irritant. Other 

 writers say that the root acts as a rubefacient and vesicant, and 

 causes great pain. Udoy Chandra Dutt says that the root of the 

 white-flowered plant is said to be a stronger rubefacient, while that of 

 the bark is preferred for internal use for promoting the appetite and 

 acting on the excretions. (Sanskrit Materia Medica^ p. 118, 1877.) 



The ancient Hindu writers, as for instance the author of Raj- 

 Nighant, of Bhavp?*aJcask, of Madanpal-Nigkant, * do not refer to the 

 abortifacient property of any part of the Shegat plant. In Amar- 

 koska, a very old Sanskrit dictionary, Shegat is said to be pungent.^ 

 No mention of the abortifacient property of this plant is made 



* Dr. Bonavia gives the date, of this work as 1360 A. D. (The Cultivated Oranges 

 and Lemons, p. 215, 1890). 



f Dr. Bonavia gives the date as the 8th or 9th century A.D., and observes 

 that, according to Keinand, it appears that Amarkosha was written in the 5th 

 century. (Op. eit.") 



