1 834.] Himalayan Mountains and of the Flora of Kashmir. 533 



Dr. Buchanan has informed us, that it is equally fatal when taken into the stomach, 

 and when applied to wounds ; hence used for poisoning arrows and killing wild 

 animals. The futility of the Gorkhns attempting to poison the springs of water 

 was shown in the last campaign, and Dr. Govan has proved the improbability of 

 deleterious exhalations from this plant being the cause of the unpleasant sensations 

 experienced at great elevations, inasmuch as it is only found much below where 

 these are experienced. But as it is a root of such virulent powers, it has no doubt 

 been frequently employed as a poison, and its sale was therefore prohibited by the 

 native powers in India. Notwithstanding this, the Hindoo physicians, noted for 

 the employment of powerful drugs, such as arsenic, mix vomica, and croton, do 

 not hesitate to employ this also in medicine. In the Talepf-Shereef it is directed 

 never to be given alone ; but mixed with several other drugs, it is recommended 

 in a variety of diseases, as cholera, intermittent fever, rheumatism, tooth-ache, 

 and bites of snakes. It is also used as an external application in rheumatism in 

 the north-western provinces. Mr. Pereira's experiments have shown that this 

 root, either in the form of powder, watery extract, or spirituous extract, is a most 

 virulent poison : but of these forms the last is by far the most powerful. " The 

 " effects were tried by introducing this extract into the jugular vein, by placing it 

 " in the cavity of the peritoneum, by applying it to the cellul ar tissue of the back, 

 " and by introducing it into the stomach. In all these cases, except the last, the 

 " effects were very similar ; namely, difficulty of breathing, weakness, and subse- 

 " quently paralysis, which generally commenced in the posterior extremities, ver- 

 " tigoes, convulsions, dilatation of the pupil, and death, apparently from asphy- 

 " xia." (v. Wall. PL Asiat. Rar. loc. cit.) 



With respect to the Bikhma, or the second kind of Bish, the difficulties are 

 greater, as the specimens of Caltha ? Bikhma, which Dr. Buchanan was informed 

 produced the febrifuge root, belong to Dr. Wallich's Aconitum palmatum, Cat. 

 No. 4723 ; this may therefore produce a root possessed of the properties ascribed 

 to the Bikhma by Dr. Buchanan's informants. Though we have no further infor- 

 mation respecting it than its name, properties, and the short description of Radix 

 tuberosa to guide us, it is interesting to endeavour if it can be traced in other parts 

 of India, though names, especially provincial ones, we have seen vary in different 

 districts, and the properties ascribed to a drug is rather an uncertain guide in the 

 present state of the Indian Materia Medica ; but it appears to be more than an 

 accidental coincidence, that the author, in his inquiries, has met with a tuberous 

 root produced by a species of Aconite, which is extensively used in India as a tonic 

 medicine. In the native works on Materia Medica, as well as in the common Per- 

 sian and Hindoostanee and English Dictionaries, Atees is described as being the 

 root of an Indian plant used in medicine. This the author learnt was the produce 

 of the Himalayas : he therefore sent to one of the commercial entrepots situated at 

 the foot of the hills, and procured some of the root, making inquiries respecting 

 the part of the mountains whence it was procured. The plant-collectors in their 

 next excursions were directed to bring the plant, with the root attached to it, as 

 the only evidence which would be admitted as satisfactory. The first specimens 

 thus procured are represented in Plate 13, and the root Atees having been thus 

 ascertained to be the produce of a new species of Aconite, it was named Aconitum 

 atees (Journ. Asiat. Soc. voli. p. 459), but which has since been ascertained to be 

 the Aconitum heterophyllum of Dr. Wallich. The roots obtained in different parts 



