460 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



application in skin diseases. The expressed oil of the seeds 

 is used in these diseases as well as in rheumatism. A poultice 

 of the leaves is applied to ulcers infested with worms (Dutt). 



The juice of the roots is used for cleaning foul ulcers and 

 closing fistulous sores (Ainslie). 



The fresh bark is used internally in bleeding piles. A 

 decoction of the leaves is used for medicated baths and 

 fomentations in cases of rheumatic pains (S. Arjun). 



The oil is useful in cutaneous affections (Ph, Ind. 79). 

 Gibson speaks very highly of the oil as a remedy in scabies, 

 herpes and other cutaneous diseases of a similar nature. It 

 should be mixed with an equal quantity of lime or lemon juice 

 and well shaken, when it forms a rich yellow liniment which I 

 have used successfully in porrigo capitis, pityriasis and 

 psoariasis ; in an obstinate case, hydnocarpus oil, camphor and 

 sulphur may be added with advantage. For destroying worms 

 in sores, the juice of the karanj, nim and nirgondi (Vitex 

 negundo), hence called kidamar, i.e., killer of worms or 

 cutaneous vermin, is in common use. In leprosy, the leaves 

 of the karanj and chitrak, mixed with pepper and salt, are 

 powdered and given with curds (Dymock). K. R. Krishna 

 has used it in cases of . Eczma Sicca locally with benefit, with 

 one dram of Zinc Oxide to one ounce of the oil. 



Useful in whooping cough and chronic bronchitis (Sur- 

 geon B. Evers, I. m. s., March 1875, p. (36.) 



Regarding the oil, Mr. Hooper writes : — 



It is a thick oil, of a light orange-brown colour, with a bitter taste, 

 probably due to a resin. By extracting the kernels with ether 33*7 per cent. 

 of a buttery mass of a dirty yellowish colour was obtained. The residual cake 

 contains 23 3 per cent, of proteins, fehould a demand arise for this oil it 

 could be obtained to an unlimited extent in Bengal.— (Agricultural Ledger 

 1911-12— No. 5 p. 140.) 



The oil from its seeds at 15°, is a buttery mass of a dirty yellow colour. 

 Two samples gave the following figures : Sp. Gr. 0-9352-0-9240 at 40°; 

 Saponification number, 178-183'1 ; iodine number, 94-0-89-4 ; Reichert-Meissl 

 number, 1*1 ; unsaponifiable matter, 9-22-6-96 per cent ; refractometer number, 

 78*0-70'0 ; free fatty acids (as oxalic), 3'05-0-5 per cent. The first values were 

 given by a sample extracted in the laboratory with ether ; the second by a 

 specimen obtained from India( Julius Lewkowitsch, Analyst, 1903, 28, 342-343, 



