Oct. 1, 1902.] THE TROPICAL 
oylindrio corms, 6 — 12 in. long, and I— IJ in. diam., 
pointed at each end, bifuroately branched (or 
V-shaped), producing a new joiot at the end of each 
branch ; Low country, in bushy places ; common. Fl. 
Sept. -Jan. ; at first greenish, passing through Vdllow, 
orange, and scarlet to cimson fiom base to ape.x. 
Throughout India and in Burma, Malay, Oochin-China, 
and Trop. Africa. The character of the corms given 
above is from a note by Dr. Trimen, who further saya 
that they are slightly acrid." 
But Dr. Geo. Watt gives fuller infoiniation : — 
Habitat, — . — A large scandent herb, grasping by 
the tips of its leaves ; found in the forest of India, 
Burma, and Ceylon, ascending to 6,000 feet. It pro- 
duces a largo and very handsome flower, during 
the rain. 
" Medicine.— The root is supposed by Hindu and 
Muhammadan physicians to have valuable medicinal 
properties. Uutt writes, ' It constituted one of the 
seven minor poisons of Sanskrit writers and had for 
one of its synonyms ' fjarbhaqliatini,' or "the Drug 
that causes abortion,' but I am not aware of its 
being used as an abortive for criminal purposes. The 
tuberous root, powdered and reduced to a paste, ia 
applied to the navel, suprapubic region, and vagina, 
with the object of promoting labour. In retained 
placenta a paste of the root is applied to the palms 
and soles, while powdered Nigella seeds and long 
pepper are given internally with wine.' Early English 
writers on Indian botany and materia medica speak 
of it as a violent poison, but none furnish satisfactory 
details of a case in which marked ill-efiects were 
produced by its use. It seems highly probable that 
these ill-effects have been greatly over-estimated, an 
assumption which is confirmed by experiments 
recently conducted by Moodeen Sheriff. In a special 
opinion kindly furnished to the editor he writes : 
' The root is not so poisonous as is generally sup- 
posed. I have taken it myself in small quantities, 
grai^ually increasing the dose to 15 grains. There were 
no bad efiects, but on the contrary my appetite im- 
proved, and I felt distinctly more active and stronger. 
I have been using it in my practice during the last 
sixteen or seventeen years, and consider it to be a 
pretty good tonic and stomachic. Dose from 5 to 12 
grains three times daily-' In Bombay it is supposed 
to be an anthelmintic, and is accordingly frequently 
administered to cattle afiected by worms. In Madras 
it is believed to be specific against the bites of 
poisonous snakesj and the stings of scorpions, and 
is also used as an external application in parasitical 
affections of the skiu. Surgeon-Major Thomson, c.i,e., 
has kindly furnished the following information regard- 
ing its utilisation in Madras : — ' There are two varieties 
of this plant. The root of one plant divides dichoto- 
monsly, that of the other does not divide at all bat 
appears as a single piece shooting into the ground. 
The former ia aupposed by the natives to be the 
male plant, the latter the female. The mile root 
ia gathered during the flowering season, cut up in 
thin slices and soaked in butter-milk to which a little 
salt is added. In this composition it is soaked by 
night and dried by day for four or five days. It ia 
eventually dried well and preserved. By this process 
its poisonous properties are said to be removed, 
When so prepared, and administered by giving apiece 
or two internally in a case of cobra bite, it is said 
to be an effectual antidote in cobra poisoning. It is 
called in Tamil ' Katharum cheddy.' In scorpion and 
centipede stings and bites relief is obtained from 
the pain by applying a paste of the root rubbed up 
with cold water and then warming the part affected 
over the tire. This paste ia applied also for parasitic 
affections of the skin.'' 
"Notwithstanding its characteristic appearance, the 
tuber is occasionally employed by natives as an 
adulterant of the roots of Aconitum ferox, to which, 
indeed, they believe it to be closely allied in therapeu- 
tical properties, 
"PHyaicAL Cha,racter8 and Chemicai, Composition. 
—The root flattened or cylindrical, sometimes much 
AGEICULTURIST. U\ 
pointed at both ends, sometimes cousiatiug of two 
tubers uniting at right angles. Ou the upper Burfaco 
maybe seen a circular acar m irking the point of 
origin of the stem, and on the under-surface beneath 
this another mark to which thin small rootless are 
frequently left attached. Covering the tubers is a thin 
loose, and wrinkled epidermis of a brownish-gray or 
pale-brown colour and on removing this skin, a brown 
or dark-brown surface is exposed. Ou cutting the 
tuber it is fouud to be dull-white and farinaceous 
internally. The taste is faintly bitter, the odour slightly 
acrid. A chemical examination by Dr. Warden 
resulted in the separation of two resius and a bitter 
principle, superhine. which the analyst considered 
closely allied to, if not identical with, that of Sailla 
maritima (Dymoch)." 
Tiie case of this death in Dolo&bage should be 
marie the occasion of a careful enquiry and leport 
for future guidance and protection. 
CURING TOBACCO LEAF. 
Some twenty years ago Mr. Cabanis, who had 
had expo.rience in Cuba in planting tobacco, toik 
exception, as a correspondent writing to us from 
Foit Stedtnaa does, to the faulty metiiods adopted 
by the people of the country in curing their to- 
bacco. He pointed out that sun-dried tobacco is 
never so palatable to smokers as tuat dried under 
cover. No doubt the latter method is not so easy 
nor so speedy as simply putting the leaf in the 
sun, The Slians apparently leave their tobacco 
alternately in the sun's heat and the night's dews 
with a result the reverse of pleasing. The cor- 
respondent says they are quite willing to learn a 
new method if there were only someone to teach 
them. Perhaps if the railway were made through 
the Shan States and the Shans were certain of 
securing a good price for all they can grow over 
and above their own requirement.s, there would 
be an improvement. The best tobacco-growing 
lands at present are at places distant from the 
railway, and perhaps that is one reason that so 
little care or trouble is taken by the cultivators 
in the important pirt of curing Rangoon 
Gazette, Aug 11. 
RUBBER IN LOWER BURMA. 
In the India rubber plantation at Merg'ui which 
is progressing favourably, the Government will in 
a few years have a hiorlily remunerative return on 
the capital invested, beside the advantage to be 
derived from having introduced a new industry 
into Lower Burma. The extraction of rubber is 
said to be one of the simplest crafts in the world, 
which can be easily learned by the most ignorant. 
Kachins work it in the wild country between 
Upper Burma and India, and equally wild and 
savage Indians in the Bolivian and Peruvian 
forests. A workman in the latter country usually 
taps from 75 to 159 trees a day, depending on his 
industry and the nature of the ground. A small 
incision is made in the bark and a tin cup attached 
to catch the sip. Tiiis is smoke 1 and coagulated 
in the evening over a wooden fire which makes 
it hard, cured rubber. A collector gets from seven 
to twenty-one pounds of this rubber daily. The 
cost there comes to about Is 4d per pound whilst 
the London price is from 4s to 4? 6J. The demand 
for rubber is increasing yearly, so that there would 
seem to be a bright future before the r ibber 
industry in Lower Burma. — Rangoon Gazette, 
Aug 11. 
