Medicinal Properties of Thistle Oil. 227 
all; in others it did afford some relief. It was more ex- 
tensively used as an application to some skin diseases, as 
‘scabies’ or ‘itch, and in some forms of ‘psoriasis ;’ and 
its beneficial effect was very marked in all. 
“T am of opinion,” he says, “that its utility in colic is 
doubtful ; but as an application in skin diseases, there can 
be no doubt whatever of its being a valuable remedial 
agent.” 
The same Redieal officer reported from Gondah that “ it 
was used internally in four cases of colic, in each of which 
Heave telief;’ “but,” he states “the number i is too small 
for me to form an opinion of its merits.” He tried it in 
skin diseases very extensively, and found that it was an 
- excellent remedy, rarely failing to afford relief; he further 
states that there can be no question as to its utility in some 
skin diseases, more especially that kind of “ psoriasis ” 
which is so common among natives, and also in “scabies.” 
I sent a large tin of the oil to Dr. Wilkie, then Deputy-In- 
spector-General of Hospitals, Meerut Circle, for trial in his 
dispensaries. He soon after left Meerut for the lower 
provinces, and I have not heard what the result has been. 
Dr. O’Shaughnessy, in his ‘ Bengal Dispensatory,’ under 
article Argemone Mexicana, states that “he subjected the 
seeds to numerous experiments, and has never found them 
to show any emetic or narcotic influence; they contain a 
bland oil, resembling that of poppy oil, and which can be 
used in ounce doses without producing any purgative 
effect.” 
The accounts given by the different individuals who 
tried it are conflicting, but, upon the whole, they are 
favourable. Its great usefulness in skin diseases I don’t 
think can be doubted. There is discrepancy in results of 
trials made with the oil used internally for colic. I think 
this can be easily accounted for. All oils are changed 
more or less by keeping, and it is quite possible that the 
differences in the result originated in one case in being 
kept more exposed to the air than in another. The newly- 
pressed oil may give results different from those when a 
long time has elapsed after the seeds have been pressed. 
Differences of climate and soil may undoubtedly produce 
a change in the properties of a plant. No one doubts 
that all the varieties of Wzcotiana Tabacum descended 
from the same stock, but no two kinds agree exactly in 
their properties; some have more, some have less of the 
narcotic principle. So it may be with the plant under 
U2 
