66 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



in the second century a duty was levied on it at the Roman 

 custom-house of Alexandria ; also that it was preserved in singular 

 little jars which are now to be found in collections of Greek 

 antiquities. 



The fruit, which is of a beautiful purple colour and 

 covered with a delicate bloom, is eatable, and is exported in a 

 dried state. 



Use : — The mode of preparation of the extract Rasot, Rasvanti 

 or Ras&njan is as follows : — Take 4 tolas of the Root cut into 

 thin slices, boil it in half a seer of water, until reduced to a mass 

 weighing 8 tolas ; add to it eight tolas of goat's milk, and 

 boil again into a solid mass. This mass is Rasot— (Dr. T. M. 

 Shah of Junagadh). The following powder is given as an 

 effective remedy in dysenteric diarrhoea, in one dram doses. 

 Take equal parts of Rasot, the bark and seeds. Holorrhena 

 antidysenterica, (kuda) the flowers of Woodfordia floribunda 

 (Dhaiti), and the root-tube of Aconitum heterophyllum (Atis) 

 and ginger, and reduce them to an impalpable powder (Dr. 

 Shah). 



Dr. Shah recommends Rasot, opium, alum and Bal-Hirda 

 (immature fruit of chebulic Myrobalan), rubbed on a stone, 

 in equal parts, as an external application round inflamed eyes. 



Mr. W. H. Lovegrove, Conservator of Forests, Jammu and 

 Kashmir State, contributes an article on " Rasaunt " to The Indian 

 Forester for May 1914 (pages 229-232), from which the following 

 extracts are made :— 



" Rasaunt is a brown extract prepared from the root and lower stem wood 

 of Berberies aristata, Berberies Lycium and probably Berberies asiatica or 

 voriaria. The Berberis is locally called Kemlu. 



" In boiling out the product large quantities of green fuel are burnt. The 

 common species used are banj (Quercus inca.ua), keint (Pijms Pashia), kakoa 

 (Flucourtia Ramontchi), kembla (Mallotus philippinensis) and other broad 

 leaves. Dry fuel is objected to as being more difficult to control in the kind 

 of furnace used. 



The roots of the berberies are dug up and after cutting off, say, the upper 

 | of the stem branches are well washed to remove all earth and foreign 

 matter. They are then cut up into small pieces, the smaller the better. In 

 the Basantgarh Range the sizes of the chips are about 1J" or 2" X |" or f", 

 but in : theBasohli Tabsil (which prides itself on producing a better quality 

 Rasaunt) the pieees are much smaller. 



