1835] 



J\^ote. 



83 



fects and promises to be a valuable acquisition in many unmanageable 

 forms of disease." It should be particularly observed that he 

 never prescribed more than three or five grains, as in larger doses 

 it acts as an emetic and its alterative effects are not obtained. 



There is an interesting paper in the same journal for July 1829, by 

 Br." Duncan junior, on the chemical com^position and properties of 

 Mudar. Dr. D. in that paper arrives at the conclusion, that in every 

 respect the action of the Mudar is similar to those of ipecacuan. The 

 peculiar proximate principle contained in it,possesses the singular pro- 

 perty of being soluble in cold water and gelatinising when heated to 

 80o or 90o Farh. It excites speedy and abundant vomi ling in the dose 

 of one grain repeated to the third time. 



There are two cases given in the 6th volume of the Medical and 

 Physical Transactions of Calcutta — one an ulcer of twelve months 

 standing, and upwards of sixteen inches in circumference in which 

 all the former treatment had failed but yielded to two drachms and a 

 half of the Mudar, given by Mr. L. Geddes of the Madras service. 

 The other treated by Dr. H. Mackenzie was " a native boy aged 13 

 who had been ill twelve months with inveterate ulcers — the bones of 

 the left forearm were bare and in a state of caries, there were numer- 

 ous ulcers affording a very profuse discharge and sinuses about the 

 forearm and elbow ; the patient was miserably reduced and unable to 

 stand. He had tried all the ordinary resources of the district without 

 benefit." The Mudar was given in small doses, and at the end of 

 five weeks from the time he had begun to take it, all the sores 

 had healed and the boy was able to walk about. 



In a paper read May 182S by Mr. Twining before the Medical and 

 Physical Society of Calcutta, of which an abstract is given in the so- 

 ciety's circular for that month, he says " Mudar has been found very 

 serviceable where the constitution has been injured by the improper 

 exhibition of mercury or other violent remedies, and it has cured 

 where Sarsaparilla has failed; at the same time it is observed, that it 

 has happened in two or three cases out of near fifty, that Mudar has, 

 after a time, ceased to act favourably." '* In other cases, where mer- 

 cury had been often used, but its employment omitted for many months, 

 the patient remaining in misery, with severe pains and open ulcers-— 

 the Mudar has alone effected a cure." 



The paper does not appear to have been published in this country : 

 the following extract from the address of the Earl of Stanhope, as 

 president of the Medico Botanical Society of London, at the Anniver- 

 sary Meeting in January 1 830, perhaps, affords an explanation of its 

 not being inserted in the Calcutta Transactions. " It remains for me 

 to speak of an admirable paper of Mr. Twining at Calcutta, of which 

 the first part was read at a Meeting of this Society, and will be found, 

 from its merits and importance, to be eminently entitled to the Gold 

 Medal, unless it should already have been published, a point upon 

 which we are not at present informed. It relates to a species of 

 asclepias, which is common in Hindoostan, where it is known by the 

 name of il/wrfar, and is an active, valuable, and safe Medicine, that 

 may be employed in many cases of chronic disease. The milky juice 

 of the plant operates as a violent cathartic, but is used externally to 

 promote suppuration, and for the cure of the herpes serpigo, as the 

 I leaves are also in cases of rheumatism. The dried flowers, and the 

 I inner bark of the root, in powder, are considered of service in anasar- 

 I ca and the ascites of mere debility ; and its root, in powder is also 

 1; administered in eruptions and other complaints. It thus appears 

 I that several parts of the plant are medicinal, but Mr. Twining 



