440 
THff TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January i, 1889. 
to be rumedies for snake-bites, but experiments care- 
fully and repeatedly made by European practitioners 
have demonstrated the worthlessness of these supposed 
remedies ; and an experienced local medical writer 
on this subject has declared that no antidote for the 
poison of snakes has yet been found in the vegetable 
kingdom, though it is not improbable that in the 
natural order of AristolochiaceEe such may be dis- 
covered . 
The Oeylon Court of the Colonial and Indian Exhibi- 
tion in 1883 contained a collection of nearly four 
hundred drugs indigenous to that island, found chiefly 
in the hill districts, but not nearly representing the 
entire materia medica of the island. They had been 
collected by Dr. Trimen, Director of the Royal Botanic 
Gardens at Kandy, who described them in a catalogue 
from information furnished by native village v'ederales. 
In the descriptive catalogue of that court the com- 
piler felt bound to admit that the uses of these re- 
medies must not be supposed to be based on any 
real properties in a large number of cases ; much is 
traditional, in the same way as, in the middle ages 
and up to the seventeenth century in Europe, numerous 
plants which are known to be quite inert were credited 
with virtues ou the authority of older writers and 
astrologers. 
Amongst the medicinal products of Oeylon the "Beli" 
or "Bael Fruit" (JEgle marmelos), well known in 
this country as a remedy in cases of diarrhoea or 
dysentery, especially when the attack is accompanied 
by fever; bub native medical bosks and vederales 
attribute to the root, leaves, and bark of the bael 
tree qualities as febrifuges to which they are cer- 
tainly not entitled. It is the practice with many 
practitioners in Ceylon to boil the unripe fruiti, and 
afterwards bake it under hot wood ashes; others 
employ the soft pulp of the ripe fruit in its natural 
state. When it is intended to be kept in store for 
any time, or exported, the fruit is gathered before 
being fully ripened, cut in to thin slices, and dried 
thoroughly in the sun before being packed for removal. 
As this tree grows readily in almost any soil in high 
or low districts, and needs no kind of cultivation, it 
might bo propagated to any extent with a view to 
a larger trade in the dried fruit. 
" Kothomba Bark " (Azardirachta indica). — The 
bark of a tree common in the maritime districts of 
the island, employed in the form of infusion with 
much success as a febrifuge, the patient being at 
the same time kept on extremely low diet, almost 
to starvation-point. The fruit of the tree is said to 
possess purgative properties, whilst an oil made from 
the seeds is applied externally in ca3es of rheumatism. 
In rheumatic affections the bark of the "Kahata" 
(Careya arhorea) and of the "Damba" tree {Calophyl- 
Iwrtl inophyllum) are both employed with some success 
in infusion. 
In cases of diabetes an infusion of the leaves of 
the " Ranacondra" {Cassia auriculata) is employed 
very generally, and with good results. It is extremely 
useful in allaying the parching thirst which invariably 
accompanies the disease. 
The woody stem of the "Weni-wel" (Coscinium 
fenestraitltm), infused, forms an excellent tonic and 
febrifuge, and well dried in the sun has been exported 
to Europe. It has also been found to posses considerable 
antiseptic properties — meat steeped in the infusion 
keeping perfectly fresh for several weeks. A strong 
infusion is employed by native mat-makers for dyeing 
their wares a bright yellow. 
The "Atana" (Datura fastuosa) is a species of 
thorn-apple, possessing in its leaves and seeds thera- 
peutic properties similar to those of belladonna, and 
which are contained in the active principle, daturin, 
Tin: dried Leaves are rolled into the form of cigars, 
and iu cases of asthma smoked with good effect. 
It is a very common plant in most df the districts 
in the interior, where it thrives in thin, poor soil, 
and might, therefore, be extensively grown. 
The " NitfANiiAr.A " {Gloriosa euperba), a very poison- 
ous plant, and known as much from olden times, 
beinjj mentioned in the most ancient work on medical 
rj jb jectH, is a wild, quick-growing climbing plant, having 
a pretty variegated flower ; all pirtsofit — root, leaves, 
and seeds — are equally poisonous. It is employed by 
Singhalese women to procure abortion, and also for 
suiciial purposes. 
The " Iramuon " (Hemidesmus indicus), or Indian 
sarsapirrilla, a freely-growing creeping-plant, is indi- 
genous to the low country of Oeylon, where it is 
found very plentifully in all light soils remote from 
cultivation. Its long tenacious root and stem have an 
aromatic and slightiy bitter taste, alterative, diuretic, 
and diaphoretic. A decoction of the root is prescribed 
with decided success in syphilis, rheumatism, and 
diseases of the blood. The plant mi/ht be collected 
and dried for export in considerable quantities. 
The "Gammahe" or Ceylon Kino tree (Pteroearpus 
Marsupium) yields gum kino from its soft fleshy bark 
in fair quantity. The tree grows freely in the poorest 
soil, and might be very extensively propagated by the 
village population, and a considerable trade in the 
article created at a low rate. 
The "SamadOra" (Simadora indica). — The wood 
of this tree is an excellent substitute for quassia ; 
an analysis has shown that it contains more of the 
active principle guasspi than the ordinary kuassia of 
the drug market. It can be grown in any descrip- 
tion of soil. 
" Goda-Kadura " (Strychnos nux-vomica) The nux- 
vomica plant of Oeylon is a free grower and capable 
of being largely propagated. A simple of the seed 
examined by Prof. Duostau yielded T14 per cent, 
of strychnine and 2 - 60 brueine. The plant is very 
abundant in Oeylon, and at present only one or two 
small shipments have been made to Europe Analyses 
of the seed msre recently made show the proportion 
of strychnine to range from 1 - 15 to 1"78, and of 
brueine from - 2'86 to 3'63. 
That a considerable drug export might he made 
from Oeylon to Europe with advantage is beyond 
doubt, and as all the medicinal products mentioned 
above grow abundantly, without any attempt at culti- 
vation, in districts where native population exists 
largely, they could be collected, prepared, a id ship- 
ped at a moderate cost. The product of the cinchona 
tree, now so largely exported from Ceylon, has not 
been included in the above list, it not being indigenous 
to the island, but introduced and cultivated almost 
exclusively by European planters. — Chemist and Druggist. 
- ♦ 
Tea Boxes. — The Englishman propounds the 
following conundrum :— Why does Assam not make 
its own tea boxes ? The tea boxes are imported 
in great numbers from Burma, and though the 
boxes cost more than the locally made articles, the 
tea sent" in them to England sells for a better 
price, as there is a good demand for the empty 
boxes.— M. Mail. 
Sugar and Coffee in Java. — Much is said in Java 
about the European sugar convention. The most 
general opiniou seems to be that it cau only lead to 
disappointment to expect any good results from the 
suppression of all premiuums on sugar, and that the 
only way iu which Java can head the concurrence 
of other sugar producing countries for the future will 
be only found in reducing the cost price of the Java 
Sugar as much as po-sible by improvements in the 
machinery, cheap labour, &c. The trial plantations 
in the Residency Oheribon with Sugar-cane bibit from 
Borneo are reported to be a total failure. The ex- 
penses came to thousand guilders per bouw- Great 
dissatisfaction has lately bceu shown with the 
natives at the Government persistency in keeping 
Java Coffee culture in its own hands and not giving 
it up to private iudustry. As the Coffee culture forms 
at present one of the principal sources of income 
from its Colonies to the Dutch Government, and as 
the Colonial estimates for next year, now before Par- 
liament, close with a deficit of eight to nine million 
guilders, it is not likely that they will do anything 
of the kind, at least for the present, but according 
to general opinion, they will have to raise the pay- 
ment to the natives for their labour in several dis- 
tricts at least or expeot in a few years the total ruin- of 
the Government coffee gardens. — Singapore Free Press. 
