82 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
this country by the Portugese, who appear to have adopted it in 
Brazil as a substitute for the Argemone of the Greeks and 
Romans which was used for a similar purpose (Dymock). 
“The yellow juice mixed with Ghi is given internally in 
gonorrhoea (D. R. Thompson, M.D., C.I.E.)” 
“ I found the juice very useful in scabies. Asst.-Surgeon 
Gowry Coomar Mukerji found the powdered root in drachm 
doses useful in tapeworm (R. L. Dutt, M.D.)” — Watt’s Dictionary. 
The smoke of the seeds is used in Delhi to relieve tooth-ache 
It is also said to be useful in caries of the teeth. 
The seeds aro used as a purgative in syphilis. 
In leprosy it is used as follows : — 
One tola of the juice, early in the morning, taken on empty 
stomach. 
It is said to cure leprosy in 40 days. 
“ The juice is useful in malarious fevers of a low chronic 
type. How it acts I am not sure, but I believe it has some specific 
effect (germicidal) on the malaria] parasites and, secondly, it acts 
probably as a purgative. 
“I have only tried this juice in a few cases— about six or seven 
cases — and it only acted well in one or two cases ; so I cannot 
speak with confidence. 
“ T believe the oil is a better preparation than the juice, which 
is an unstable compound. 
“ I am certain also the oil is a powerful alterative in syphilis 
and leprosy, the same as Neem oil, but I have not used it yet 
for this purpose. 
“ This drug has only lately come to my notice, and I believe 
there is a great future before it (Major D. B. Spencer, I. M. S.) 
Chemistry . — 
Gbarbonnier claimed to have isolated morphine, and his statement was 
confirmed by Ortega. Peckolt, however, concluded that the plant contained 
a new alkaloid, argemonine, and not morphine. 
To determine this question, Mr. J. 6. Schlotterbeck exhausted a large 
quantity of the dried plant, with chloroform, and obtained a large yield of 
berberine, whilst a second alkaloid, identified as protopine, was extracted 
with ether from the filtrate. 
In Schlotterbeck’s opinion, protopine was the substance regarded as 
morphine by Charbonnier, and as a new alkaloid by Peckolt. 
