45 



Fibres. 



Capt. A. Hamilton (New Account of E. Indies, pub. 1744) who in 1(527, visited Bengal, 

 and passed up the Ganges to Benares and Patna, describes Balasore as producing 

 manufactures of cotton, silk, mixed silk and cotton, and of "herba (a sort of tough 

 grass) of which they make gighams, pinaseos, and several other goods for export, 

 ation." Even so late as 1813 Milburn mentions, among his Bengal piece goods, " herba 

 taffaties." 



Though it is certairdy most surprising that this ancient industry in silk- 

 cotton textiles should have died out completely, and been all but forgotten, it is a use- 

 ful object lesson of the possibilities of the future, which manufacturers would do 

 well to consider. 



Medicine. 



It would take many pages to indicate even a tithe of the information that 

 exists on the varied medicinal properties of the milk, the flowers, the leaves, and the 

 root-bark. The late Dr. Kanny Lall Dey, C.I.E., regarded madar as a useful medi- 

 cine when given during remission of intermittent fevers, and especially if these were 

 associated with eczema. The majority of Indian medical writers extol the merits of 

 the root-bark in the treatment of dy sentry. In order to verify these opinions, the 

 study of madar was taken up by the Central Indigenous Drugs Committee of India. 

 Authentic parcels of the root-bark were procured and made up in the form of both a 

 powder and liquid extract. These preparations were issued to a selected number of 

 Hospitals and Dispensaries throughout India, with the suggestion that they should 

 be used as alteratives and alterative tonics. By chemical tests it had been previously 

 ascertained that the bark of mature plants was preferable to that of immature ones, 

 since they contained a higher percentage of the acid and bitter resinous matter on 

 which the property depended. As a substitute for ipecacuanha, it is not so satisfac- 

 tory as its reputation would seem to imply. In fact, in acute dysentery and chronic 

 diarrhoea, it is found undesirable, and certainly less efficacious than ipecacuanha. 

 When given in large doses it frequently occasioned nausea and vomiting, so persis- 

 tent and severe as to make the drug objectionable if not dangerous. In small doses 

 of, say, 3 to 5 grains of the powder (preferably), its action on the stoniachjwas that of 

 a mild stimulant, hence the opinion was often expressed that it might, with advant- 

 age be combined with cinchona in the treatment of certain fevers. As an emetic 

 the powder, in doses of 30 to 40 grains, was found very effectual.— George Watt 

 in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Keiv, Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information 

 Nos. 157-168, 1900. 



