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JOURNAL, E.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. IX. 



built irrigation works and promoted the interests of Bud- 

 dhism, failed to notice cinnamon, it is no wonder they 

 make no mention of kalu-miniran, which though lustrous 

 as silver was neither a precious metal nor a precious stone 

 fitted for the adornment of kingly crown or royal palace,— 

 palace far inferior to thousands of European kitchens, 

 with their iron stoves and grates shining with the brilliancy 

 of highly polished " black lead." To Mr. W. P. Ranesinghe 

 I am indebted for the information, conveyed in a letter 

 which is printed as an appendix to this paper, that kalu- 

 miniran (black miniran, the word miniran applied to mica 

 signifying mini = mani, gem, and ran = ratna, also gem, 

 or the ' golden gem/ just as two superlatives, gloriosa 

 superba, are applied to the splendid inverted lily of our 

 jungles) is mentioned in a native work, the date of which it 

 is difficult to fix, but which seems to have been written in the 

 fourteenth century of our era. In this medical work " Yoga 

 Ratnakare" ('the ocean of the gem-like prescriptions') 

 directions are given for reducing miniran, that is mica, to 

 ashes that it may be taken as a medicine, while to fit kalu- 

 miniran (graphite) for similar use it has to be purified by 

 means of the milky juice of a euphorbia, and boiling for 

 three days over a low fire such as is used for boiling rice. 

 The small pieces subjected to the processes mentioned 

 are finally taken out and washed, and they are then purified 

 and fit for use. The affections for which this purified carbon 

 is prescribed are not mentioned, beyond the statement that 

 it is used as a tonic, but we all know how largely the anti- 

 septic properties of charcoal are valued and applied, a 

 digestive charcoal biscuit being at this moment prominently 

 advertised and pretty extensively used. I have also in my 

 reading come across a notice of the use of coal as a medicine, 

 the purer forms being probably chosen, while a paragraph 

 has recently appeared stating that " a chemist in Munich 

 has succeeded in obtaining from distilled coal a white 

 crystalline powder which, as far as regards its action 

 on the human system, cannot be distinguished from 

 quinine, except that it assimilates even more readily with 

 the stomach. Its efficacy in reducing fever heat is 

 represented as quite remarkable, and it even renders the 

 use of ice unnecessary." 



