268 MESSRS. D. HOOPER AND H. H. MANN ON 



inflammation of the stomach and acid hydrochloricima. It is also used in some cases of 

 chronic diarrhoea. 



U. C. Dutt, 1 after describing geru mati, gairika and other earths occasionally used in 

 medicine, refers to a sweet-scented earth brought from Surat, and called saurasfra mrit- 

 tika, regarded as an astringent and useful in haemorrhages. It enters into the composi- 

 tion of several medicines for relieving bleeding from internal organs. 



In the Treatise of Simples 2 by El-Baitar, the well-known botanist of Malaga who 

 lived in the 13th century, there are given the names and properties of nine kinds of 

 medicinal clay. These are : — 



Thin makhtoum ... ... Sigillated earth. 



Thin ?iiesr 



Thin chamos 



Thin djiziitt el-maxsiki 



Thin kimolya 



Thin kemy 



Thin horr 



Thin armcny 



Egyptian earth. 

 Earth of Samos. 

 Earth of Chios. 

 Cimolean earth. 

 Earth (ashes) of vines. 

 Pure clay. 

 Armenian earth. 



Under Thin nisaboury or " earth of Nisabur," he says : — 



" Tins is the comestible earth. — Thabat ibn Muhammad. The earth of Nisabour is white, of an agree- 

 able taste and is eaten raw or baked. It is one of the pure clays. It is very white like that of white lead. It 

 is sweet to the taste and sticks to the lips on account of its great softness. Its taste is somewhat saline. 

 Placed on the fire, this earth loses its saline taste and becomes sweet. Some people beat and mix it with rose- 

 water with a little camphor to make a pieparation of the form of loaves or tablets or different shapes. 

 Others work it up with musk, camphor-water and aromatic substances. Then they take some of this after 

 wine to perfume the breath and calm the burning of the stomach. Muhammad ibn Zakariya (Razi) 8 says 

 that the comestible earth is cold. It strengthens the heart and relieves nausea. The same account in his 

 Treatise on Correctives of Foods declares that -the eaith of Nisabour suppresses sickness and corrects nausea pro- 

 voked by sweet and fatty food. To effect this, one takes a small quantity after food, preferably prepared 

 with soda, rose, lemon-grass souchets, cubebs and cardamoms. For my part I think the usage of this earth 

 has not the disadvantage of producing obstructions in the kidney and the bladder, as happens with other 

 clays ; it is necessary to employ that' which is burnt, which does not break easily, and does not agglutinate 

 in contact with the saliva. One should abstain from administering clay to subjects whose liver passages are 

 weak, to those whose kidneys are liable to the formation of calculi, or with subjects who appear emaciated and 

 unhealthy and the complexion pale and livid. The same, in his Treatise of Clays, says that the earth of 

 Nisabour has the property of strengthening the heart- It is a suitable remedy for nausea and choleric affections 

 with those who are accustomed to reject their food, with those who have weak stomachs, with those who sali- 

 vate freely during their sleep, with those who are affected by violent hunger concurrently with looseness of the 

 bowels. It is with this medicine that I have cured an individual taken by a very serious choleric affection, its 

 gravity indicated by violent and persistent vomiting and the commencement of cramps. I feared for his life, 

 on account of the inefficacy of the grains of paradise and pastilles of agallocha and other means of that kind 

 such as drinks, remedies and foods capable of calming the excessive vomiting. I administered to him in the 

 form of powder a dose of 30 drams (1,800 grs., 4/1 3 ounces) and thrice repeated this, twice in a decoction of 

 sweet apples and once in a decoction of lemon or ginger grass ; nausea and indigestion were at once relieved. 



Materia Medica of the Hindus, p. 96. ' 2 Translated by L. LeClerc, Paris, 1881, pp. 42N427. 3 Died 923 or 932 A.D. 



