N. 0. MELIACE^I. 305 



fresh bark is preferable to the dry and old one. In preparing 

 the decoction of the fruit, they should be selected when they 

 are very young or before attaining half of their natural size ; 

 cut into small slices and dry in the sun ; and then their propor- 

 tion to the water and the method of boiling and straining are 

 exactly the same as in the decoction of root-bark. Tincture : 

 Take of the inner layer of the root-bark or bark, in coarse pow- 

 der, four ounces ; alcohol or proof spirit, one pint ; macerate 

 for seven days in a closed vessel with occasional agitation, 

 press, filter and add more spirit, if necessary, to make one 

 pint. Powder : The inner layer of the root-bark or bark, or 

 the dry young fruit, may be reduced to powder, passed 

 through a fine sieve and kept in a closed vessel. Of the leaves, 

 nuts and oil — Decoction, paste or poultice and solution. De- 

 coction : Take of the fresh leaves, four ounces ; water, two 

 pints; boil till the liquid is reduced to half of its quantity, and 

 strain when cool. Paste or poultice : Bruise and rub the fresh 

 leaves with hot or cold water in a stone mortar, till they are 

 reduced to a soft and pulpy mass. Solution : Bruise and rub 

 the kernel of the nuts with cocoanut oil, water or some other 

 liquid, in a mortar till it becomes well mixed and thin. The 

 oil is either applied by itself or in combination with other 

 drugs, as chaulmugra oil, &c. Of the flowers — Infusion : Take 

 of the flowers, three ounces ; hot water, one pint or just suffi- 

 cient to cover the flowers ; infuse in a covered vessel for an 

 hour and strain. Of the gum — Mucilage, which is prepared 

 in the same way as the corresponding preparation of the 

 Indian Gum Arabic, under the head of Preparation, in the 

 article Aeaeia Arabiea. Of the toddy — There is no pre- 

 paration of the sap or margosa toddy, it being always used 

 alone. 



" Doses— -Of the decoction of the root-bark, bark or youni 

 fruit, from one-and-a-half to three fluid ounces ; of the tincture 

 of the root-bark or stem bark, from one to three fluid drachms ; 

 and of the powder of any of the above drugs, from one to 

 two drachms; three or four times in the twenty-four hounj. 

 Of the infusion of flowers, from one-and-a-half, to three fluid 

 39 



