1837-] Notes on the Drugs called Mishme Teela and Pucha Pat. 347 



2*— Notes on the Drugs called Mishme Teeta and Pucha Punt. 

 By pN. Wallich, m. d. 



About a year ago I received from Captain Jenkins, Agent to the 

 Governor General on the N. E. Frontiers of Bengal* a small supply of 

 a medicinal root, which he informed me was in great repute in Assam, 

 and among the tribes inhabiting the adjoining countries. I have since 

 been able, through the kindness of Lieut. Charlton, of Suddeya in 

 Upper Assam, to determine with certainty the nature of the plant which 

 yields this root ; and I have now the pleasure to submit some notes on 

 the subject to the Medical and Physical Society, together w T ith the result 

 of the experiments made by my valued friend Mr. Twining, to ascer- 

 tain the properties and medicinal use of the drug. 



Mishme Teeta is the name by which this drug is designated among 

 the Mishmees and Lamas ia the mountainous regions bordering upon 

 Upper Assam. The Chinese call it Honglane. Among these three 

 nations, it is in great estimation, and in universal use as a powerful tonic 

 and stomachic. Quantities are sent down to Assam in neat little baskets, 

 with open meshes, made of narrow slips of ratan, or some such mate- 

 rial, and measuring 3 to 4 inches in length by 2i in breadth and 11 in 

 width. Each basket contains about an ounce of small pieces of the 

 root, from 1 to 3 inches long; they are nearly cylindric, uneven, 

 scabrous, more or less curved, of a greyish brown colour, and varying in 

 thickness from the size of a crow-quill, to double that diameter. The 

 root is perfectly dry and brittle ; occasionally a few fibrillae are issuing 

 from one end ; the inside is hard, somewhat cellular, the outside of a 

 dingy yellow colour. The taste is intensely and purely bitter, very last- 

 ing and with only a very slight aroma; on mastication, the root tinges 

 the saliva yellow; its interior is bright-yellow or gold-colored. It 

 possesses no smell whatever. 



In March last, I received from Lieut. Charlton some fresh roots with 

 leaves attached, which he had obligingly procured for me from the hills. 

 They are still alive, and in a healthy condition, notwithstanding the 

 great disparity of climate which they have to endure in Bengal, chiefly 

 in regard to temperature. The leaves have withered away ; but fresh 

 roots are at the present time making their appearance. I am there- 

 fore not without some hopes of preserving this valuable plant 

 in the Honorable Company's Botanic Garden ; or at any rate of 

 introducing it hereafter into localities where it may have a better 

 chance of thriving. I have subsequently had the pleasure of ob- 

 taining from the same liberal source two incomplete specimens of the 

 inflorescence together with unripe fruit, produced by the plants at 

 Suddeya. These are the materials from which the following brief notes 

 have been taken. 



