1904.] D. Hooper — Rusot : an ancient Eastern Medicine. 181 



pounds were placed in large gurrah wliicli was filled up to the neck 

 with water. It was boiled over a slow fire until one fourth of the liquid 

 was evaporated, the liquor was again boiled with some fresh chips, and 

 the process was repeated three times. The liquid was strained through 

 a coarse cloth and the chips squeezed. The juice, on further heating, 

 became concentrated to a thick fluid, which was poured out into trays 

 and exposed to the full heat of the sun until it was sufiB.ciently solid. 

 The latter part of the process must be conducted carefully and tho- 

 roughly so as to prevent any tendency to mouldiness or fermentation 

 in the finished extract. In the " Materia Medica of the Hindus," by 

 U. C. Dutt, llasanjana, as it is called in Sanskrit, is directed to be pre- 

 pared by boiling together equal parts of a decoction of Indian Barberry 

 and milk, till reduced to the consistence of an extract. 



Rusot is a dark-brown extract pi the consistence of opium having 

 a bitter and astringent taste. It dissolves almost entirely in distilled 

 water and partly in rectified spirit, forming a rich yellowish-brown 

 solution which becomes bright yellow when diluted. The intense 

 bitterness is due to the alkaloid berberine which pervades the root, 

 bark, blossoms, berries and leaves of the plant. 



Four samples of this preparation are exhibited in the Indian Museum 

 — one from United Provinces, one from Bushahr, one from Hazara and 

 the other from Lahore in the Panjab. These were examined as regards 

 the amount of moisture, extractive matter, ash and alkaloid, berberine, 

 they contained. 



The sample from the United Provinces was prepared in 1893, and 

 was a dark-brown extract with a shining fracture. 



The second sample was forwarded to the Indian Museum by the 

 Forest Ranger, of the Nogli and Pahor Ranges, Bushahr Division, 

 Punjab, in April 1901. It was a soft extract prepared by boiling the 

 chips of the root of Berheris Lyciurriy a shrub locally called " Chochar." 

 In this division an extract is also made from the roots of B. aristata, 

 a plant known in this district as " Kashmal." 



The third sample was from the Deputy Conservator of Forests, 

 Hazara Division, Panjab, who forwarded it to the Indian Museum in 

 January 1902. This was a blackish brittle extract having the odour of 

 liquorice. It occurred in square packets enveloped in leaves. 



The fourth sample was from Lahore. It consisted of triangular 

 cakes about one inch thick and three inches along the side, and each 

 enveloped in the green leaves of Bauhinia Vahlii. The extract was of 

 the consistence of opium, dark-brown in colour, and not always homo- 

 geneous in the interior. 



The berberine was estimated by making an alcoholic extract of 



