N. 0. MALVAOE^. 199 



of Gossypium herbaceum, G. Avboreum and G. Barbadense. The 

 benefit of the dry young fruits in calculus affections and 

 chronic inflammation and ulceration of the bladder and kidneys, 

 including strangury and all other forms of dysuria, except 

 those depending on mechanical causes, is remarkable. The 

 fruits are also useful in weakness of the genital organs and in 

 most of the disorders in which gentian and calumba are resorted 

 to. As therapeutic agents, the tap-root and the bark, in the 

 forms of decoction and extract, are nearly identical in their 

 usefulness with Mdvdtimoggu, and therefore employed in almost 

 the same affections. The cotton of B. Malabarieum is useful in 

 all the surgical cases, &c, in which the cotton of Coehlosperum 

 Gossypium. is employed, and the manner of using it is also the 

 same. 



There is no drug in India which enjoys a greater reputation 

 as an aphrodisiac and tonic in native medical works than the 

 tap-root of the young plant of B. MalabariGum. There is no 

 doubt that it is one of the useful drugs in this country, but the 

 exaggeration of its good effect in some of the Indian writers is 

 so great, that it is quite ridiculous and not worth mentioning 

 here. I have recently given a trial to this drug in my practice, 

 and found it to be a good demulcent tonic, and slightly aphro- 

 disiac, but nothing beyond it. I may also state that even the 

 good influence, which it does exert occasionally on the genital 

 organs, is neither certain nor uniform. The great practical 

 objection to the use of the Semal-mush is that it is neither sold 

 in the bazar, nor procurable always in any garden or field. 

 Besides, there is no medical property in it, which, according 

 to my own experience, is not possessed in equal degree, 

 if not more, by the dry young fruits and bark of B. Malabarieum. 

 In fact, the Marati-moggu is not only the cheapest and most 

 abundant, but also the best and most useful of all the parts of 

 the above plant which are used as medicines. The young fruits 

 seem to possess some soothing or special action on the mucous 

 membrane of the genito-urinary tract, and have therefore proved 

 themselves more useful than Pareira Brava in some of the 

 diseases in which the latter is indicated (Moocleen Sheriff). 



