364 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX. 



the characteristic principle of Plumbago rosea and zeylanica, was detect- 

 ed." In a subsequent annual report,* reference is made to another 

 case of death after abortion which occurred at Satara, and in which 

 Plumbagirij the characteristic principle of Plumbago rosea and zeyla- 

 nica was detected in a lump of paste found lying in the vagina of the 

 deceased. In this case arsenic also was detected in minute quantity 

 in the liver." Among the modern Hindu writers who recognize the 

 abortifacient properties of clutralc, are Dr. Sakharam Arjun and 

 Mr. Jaikisson Indraji. 



Taken internally, the root of Plumbago rosea acts as an irritant. 

 Dr. Dymock states that when given internally in large doses, it acts as a 

 narcotico-irritant poison. " In small doses it acts first as a powerful 

 stimulant of the mucous membrane of the digestive organs, and after ab- 

 sorption, as a stimulant of the excretory glandular organs."f Colonel 

 Drury observes that the root is not unfrequently used internally by the 

 natives in Bengal for criminal purposes. " Taken internally," says he, 

 " it is an acrid stimulant and in large doses acts as an acro-narcotic."J 

 Dr. Norman Chevers says that the root is criminally used internally 

 in poisoning men''^ He cites two well-recorded cases, from which 

 I give the following extracts : — 



(Case 1). In May, 1843, a woman living in Howrah, pounded a 

 small piece of a reddish-coloured root which had been given to her, and 

 having mixed it with milk, gave it to her husband. He was taken ill in 

 about two hours after swallowing it, and died after having vomited ten 

 times and being purged once. The Civil Assistant Surgeon observed 

 a slight flush of inflammation on the surface of the stomach and small 

 intestines. * * * The surface of the stomach was found by 

 Dr. Mouat who examined it, to be much corrugated and covered with 

 small patches of inflammatory blush. On analysing the contents of the 

 stomach, some of the matter vomited, and the remains of the food said 

 to have been taken by the deceased, Dr. Mouat could detect no trace 

 of any mineral poison, but obtained the distinct evidence of the charac- 

 teristic appearance produced by lot chitra. 



* Eeport of the Chemical Analyser to Government, Bombay, for the year 1885, p. 7. 

 f Pharmacographia Indica, vol. ii, p. 331. 

 % Useful Plants of India, 1873 , p. 348. 

 § Medical Jurisprudence, 1870, p. 252. 



