306 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



ounces ; of the mucilage of the gum, from one to two fluid 

 ounces ; three or four times in the twenty-four hours 



" Remarks — No less than nine parts of the margosa nim tree 

 are employed in medicine, and I am not aware of any other 

 plant which produces so many drugs. 



" The nim or margosa to-day is an important therapeutic 

 agent and requires a special notice. The toddy or sap is yielded 

 either spontaneously or extracted artificially. In the former 

 case, a clear and colorless liquid begins to flow in a very thin 

 stream or continuous drops, from two or three and sometimes 

 more parts of the plant, and continues to do so from three to 

 seven weeks. The trunk and large branches and roots are 

 the parts from which the flow takes place through very small 

 and recent cracks or fissures, and the quantity of the liquid 

 discharged in the 24 hours from the whole tree varies from two 

 to eight bottles according to its size. Of the several margosa 

 trees in Madras and its vicinity known to yield occasionally 

 the sap under discussion, there was one in Mylapore which 

 enjoyed the greatest repute in this respect. This plant was 

 in a small street, at the southern end of the above village, 

 and died about 15 or 16 years ago. It was a pretty large tree, 

 about 50 or 60 years old, and produced the sap every 3rd or 

 4th year. After the last or fourth occasion, the trunk became 

 rapidly hollow and the plant died soon after this. On each 

 occasion, before the sap began to flow, there was always, for 

 three or four days, a distinct and peculiar rushing or pumping 

 noise of a liquid within the trunk, which did not entirely cease 

 till the discharge actually commenced from three or four parts 

 of the plant. 



"The above phenomenon being a sure forerunner of the 

 flow of the sap, as just explained, the owner of the plant (Faiz 

 Ahmed Khan) always gave notice of its occurrence to all his 

 neighbours and many other persons, with a view to be prepared 

 to avail themselves of this extremely rare medicine if they were 

 in need of it. The fame of the sap as a curative agent was 

 certainly so great that the plant was surrounded by people 

 morning and 'evening, who bought and drank the drug very 



