460 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
application in skin diseases. The expressed oil of the seeds 
is used in these diseases as well as in rheumatism. A poultice 
of the leaves is applied to ulcers infested with worms (Dutt). 
The juice of the roots is used- for cleaning foul ulcers and 
closing fistulous sores (Ainslie). 
The fresh bark is used internally in bleeding piles. A 
decoction of the leaves is used for medicated baths and 
fomentations in cases of rheumatic pains (S. Arjun). 
The oil is useful in cutaneous affections (Ph. Ind. 79). 
Gibson speaks very .highly of the oil as a remedy in scabies, 
herpes and other cutaneous diseases of a similar nature. It 
should be mixed with ’an equal quantity of lime or lemon juice 
and well shaken, when it forms a rich yellow liniment which I 
have used successfully in porrigo capitis, pityriasis and 
psoariasis ; in an obstinate case, hydnocarpus oil, camphor and 
sulphur may be added with advantage. For destroying worms 
in sores, the juice of the karanj, nim and nirgondi (Vitex 
negundo), hence called kidamfir, i.e. t killer of worms or 
cutaneous vermin, is in common use. In leprosy, the leaves 
of the karanj and qhitrak, mixed with pepper and salt, are 
powdered and given with curds (Dymock). K. R. Krishna 
has used it in cases of Eczma Sicca locally with benefit, with 
one dram of Zinc Oxide to one ounce of the oil. 
Useful in whooping cough and chronic bronchitis (Sur- 
geon B. Evers, i. m. s., March 1875, p. 66.) 
Regarding the oil, Mr. Hooper writes : — 
It is a thick oil, of a light orange-brown colour, with a bitter taste, 
probably due to a resin. By extracting the kernels with ether 33'7 per cent, 
of a buttery mass of a dirty yellowish colour was obtained. The residual cake 
contains 23'3 per cent, of proteins. Should a demand arise for this oil it 
could be obtained to an unlimited extent in Bengal.— (Agricultural Ledger 
1911-12— No. 5 p. 140.) 
The oil from its seeds at 15°, is a buttery mass of a dirty yellow colour. 
Two samples gave the following figures : Sp. Gr. 0'9352-0 9240 at 40°; 
Saponification number, 178-183*1 ; iodine number, 94*0-89'4 ; Reichert-Meissl 
number, 1*1 ; unsaponiftable matter, 922-8'96 per cent ; refractometer number, 
78'0-70'0 ; free fatty acids (as oxalic), S‘05-0'5 per cent. The first values were 
given by a sample extracted in the laboratory with ether ; the second by a 
specimen obtained from India(Ju]ius Lewkowitsch, Analyst, 1903, 28, 342-343. 
