362 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



it may be applied, by being made into a plaster with vinegar, 

 to the bites of reptiles, and to scrofulous swellings. The root is 

 said to be useful as an expectorant. Pessaries made of the 

 kernel of the seed are used to stimulate the uterus in child-birth 

 and amenorrhcea. One miskal of the pulp, with one-eighth 

 of a miskal of scammony, act as a good brisk purgative 

 (Dymock). 



According to Ainslie, the Vytians use it as an expectorant 

 in asthma. Externally, it is applied on pimples and abscesses 

 T. N. Mookerji), 



Honniberger recommended a tincture of the capsules in 

 chlorosis. If brayed in water and inserted under the lids, it 

 causes a copious flow of tears, and was used in ordinary op- 

 thalmia with considerable benefit by the late Mr. Narayan 

 Daji (S. Arjun). In Bombay, it is given successfully as an 

 anthelmintic, in four grain doses (Dymock). 



Physiological Action : — Internally: emetic, nauseant and 

 expectorant. Through the nose : a remedy in hemicrania, 

 asthma, hysteria and epilepsy. Externally : detergent, and a 

 remedy for the stings and bites of poisonous insects, as scor- 

 pions, centipedes, &c. 



Therapeutic Uses : — As an emetic : nauseant and expectorant. 

 The pericarp or pulp of soap-nut is quite equal to ipecacuanha, 

 if not superior to it, and is very useful in all the affections in 

 which the latter is indicated. The emetic action of soap-nut 

 always relieves asthma to a more or less extent, and generally 

 more speedily than ipecacuanha and Tylophora asthmatica. 

 It is also useful in the same way in some classes of colic, 

 particularly when the latter is depending on indigestion. A 

 thick watery solution of the drug is often resorted to by the 

 natives of this country for the relief of hemicrania, hysteria, 

 and epilepsy. They drop a few drops of the solution in each 

 nostril during the fit of any of the above diseases, and it pro- 

 duces a temporary relief by irritating the mucous membrane 

 and increasing its secretion, which flows out by the nostrils or 

 the mouth or by both. I gave a trial to this plan of treatment, 

 in my own practice, not only in the above maladies, but also 



