N. O. PEPALINEyE. 953 



the hair and make it black ; a decoction of the root is used to 

 have the same properties ; a powder made from the roasted and 

 decorticated seeds is called Eahisee in Arabic and Arwah-i- 

 hunjad in Persian ; it is used as an emollient both externally and 

 internally (Dymock). 



The Editor for many years employed the oil as a substitute 

 for olive oil, in the preparation of Linimentum Qalcis, and found 

 it answer well. The poorer natives use it much for dietetieal 

 purposes. The seeds have powerfully emmenagogue properties 

 assigned to them, and it is believed by the natives and Indo- 

 Britons that, if taken largely, they are capable of producing 

 abortion. In amenorrhoea, the employment of a warm sitz bath 

 containing a handful of the seeds, bruised, has been reported to 

 the Editor, on good authority, to be an efficient mode of treat- 

 ment. The alleged emmenagogue properties of these seeds 

 deserve further investigation. The leaves (Sesami folia or 

 Benne leaves) are officinal in the secondary list of the U. S. 

 Pharmacopoeia ; they abound with thick viscid mucilage, which 

 is readily imparted to water, and an infusion of them is much 

 used in the Southern States of North America in all affections 

 requiring demulcents. One or two full-sized fresh leaves, 

 infused or agitated in half a pint of cold water, will soon render 

 it sufficiently viscid for this purpose. If the dried leaves be 

 used, hot water should be substituted for the cold. The leaves 

 also serve for the preparation of emollient poultices {U. S. 

 Disp,, p. 714). How far the leaves of the Indian grown plant 

 may be used in this way remains to be determined (Ph. Ind.). 



" I have employed," Dr. Evers says, " the mucilage, obtained 

 from the leaves of the Indian plant, in the treatment of sixteen 

 cases of dysentery, and in all recovery followed. From six to 

 seven days was the time necessary for such treatment. I confess, 

 however, that my cases were not of the virulent type seen 

 towards the end of the rainy season. The drug acts simply as 

 a demulcent, and does not, in my opinion, exert any specific 

 influence on the disease ; furthermore, it is necessary to combine 

 an opiate with it, to relieve the tenesmus, so that probably the 

 opium added has as much to do in checking the disease as the 

 120 



