N. 0. JJ ALVAOKiE. 
199 
of Gussy pium lierbaeeum, G. Arboreum and G. Barbademc. The 
benefit of the dry young fruits in calculus affections and 
chronic inflammation and ulceration of the bladder and kidneys, 
including strangury and all other forms of dysuria, except 
those depending on mechanical causes, is remarkable. The 
fruits are also useful in weakness of the genital organs and in 
most of the disorders in which gentian and calumba are resorted 
to. As therapeutic agents, the tap-root and the bark, in the 
forms of decoction and extract, are nearly identical in their 
usefulness with Mdrdtimoygu, and therefore employed in almost 
the same affections. The cottou of B. Malabaricum is useful in 
all the surgical cases, &c., in which the cotton of Cochlosperum 
Gossypium is employed, and the manner of using it is also the 
same. 
There is no drug in India which enjoys a greater reputation 
as an aphrodisiac and tonic in native medical works than the 
tap-root of the young plant of B. Malabaricum. There is no 
doubt that it is one of the useful drugs in this country, but the 
exaggeration of its good effect in some of the Indian writers is 
so great, that it is quite ridiculous and not worth mentioning 
here. I have recently given a trial to, this drug in my practice, 
and found it to be a good demulcent tonic, and slightly aphro- 
disiac, but nothing beyond it. I may also state that even the 
good influence, which it does exert occasionally on the genital 
organs,; is neither certain nor uniform. The great practical 
objection to the use of the Semal-mush is that it is ueither sold 
in the bazar, nor procurable always in any garden or field. 
Besides, there is no medical property in it, which, according 
to my own experience, is not possessed in equal degree, 
if not more, by the dry young fruits and bark of B. Malabaricum. 
In fact, the Marati-moggu is not only the cheapest and most 
abundant, but also the best and most useful of all the parts of 
the above plant which are used as medicines. The young fruits 
seem to possess some soothing or special action on the mucous 
membrane of the genito-urinary tract, and have therefore proved 
themselves more useful than Pareira Brava in some of the 
diseases in which the latter is indicated (Moodeen Sherilf). 
