792 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



of the bark and met with success, after every other medicine 

 had been tried. 



He employed a decoction (Bark two ounces, Water Oii. 

 boiled to Oi.), Doses of four drachms, four times a day, with 

 the addition of one drop of Tr. Opii to each dose. Dr. Gibson 

 states that he has employed it extensively as an antiperiodic. 

 It has, however, fallen into disrepute, principally, according to 

 Sir Walter Elliot, who regards it as one of the most valuable 

 medicinal products of India, from the comparatively or wholly 

 inert bark of Wrightia Unctoria, R. Br., a tree very similar in 

 general appearance to H. antidysenterica, and known by very 

 similar native names, having been often confounded with it. 

 This bark and its properties are well deserving of the notice of 

 future investigators. It may be prescribed in decoction (eight 

 ounces, water two pints boiled to one pint), in doses of one ounce 

 and a half or two ounces twice or thrice daily ; but Mr. Odoy 

 Chund Dutt prefers a watery extract of the rootbark, of which the 

 average dose is about three grains,in combination with half a grain 

 or more of opium. The boat-shaped seeds (Anderjoiv of the Taleef 

 Shereef, No. 75), are also highly valued by the natives of India 

 in dysenteric cases. They are narrow, elongated, about half an 

 inch in length, of a cinnamon brown colour, convex on one side, 

 concave and marked with a longitudinal pale line on the other, 

 easily broken, of a bitter taste, and heavy unpleasant odour. 

 They are often confounded with the seeds of Wrightia tinctoria, 

 Roxb., to which they bear a general resemblance. According to 

 Ainslie (Mat. Ind., vol. ii., p. 483), an infusion of the roasted 

 seeds is a gentle and safe astringent in bowel complaints, and is 

 given to allay the vomiting of cholera. In the Taleef Shereef, 

 the infusion is said to be effectual in arresting haemorrhage 

 from piles. Anthelmintic virtues are also assigned to them. 

 During the last cattle plague epidemic at Backergunge (Bengal) 

 they were extensively employed, being regarded as possessing 

 certain specific virtues (Indian Med. Gaz., 1866, vol. i., p. 352). 

 The results are not stated. 



The seeds are considered by the Arabic and Persian writers 

 as possessed of carminative and astringent properties, and are 



