N. 0. MELIA0E<®. 
305 
fresh bark is preferable to the dry and old one. In preparing 
the decoction of the fruit, they should be selected when they 
are very young or before attaining half of their natural size ; 
cut into small slices and dry in the sun ; and then their propor- 
tion to the water and the method of boiling and straining are 
exactly the same as in the decoction of root-bark. Tincture : 
Take of the inner layer of the root-bark or bark, in coarse pow- 
der, four ounces; alcohol or proof spirit, one pint; macerate 
for seven days in a closed vessel with occasional agitation, 
press, filter and add more spirit, if necessary, to make one 
pint. Powder : The inner layer of the root-bark or bark, or 
the dry young fruit, may be reduced to powder, passed 
through a fine sieve and kept in a closed vessel. Of the leaves, 
nuts and oil — Decoction, paste or poultice and solution. De- 
coction : Take of the fresh leaves, four ounces ;. water, two 
pints; boil till the liquid is reduced to half of its quantity, and 
strain when cool. Paste or poultice : Bruise and rub the fresh 
leaves with hot or cold water in a stone mortar, till they are 
reduced to a soft and pulpy mass. Solution : Bruise and rub 
the kernel of the nuts with cocoanut oil, water or some other 
liquid, in a mortar till it becomes well mixed and thin. The 
oil is either applied by itself or in combination with other 
drugs, as chaulmugra oil, &c. Of the flowers — Infusion : Take 
of the flowers, three ounces ; hot water, one pint or just suffi- 
cient to cover the flowers; infuse in a covered vessel for an 
hour and strain. Of the gum — Mucilage, which is prepared 
in the same way as the corresponding preparation of the 
Indian Gum Arabic, under the head of Preparation, in the 
article Acacia Arabica. Of the toddy — There is no pre- 
paration of the sap or margosa toddy, it being always used 
alone. 
“ Doses— Of the decoction of the root-bark, bark or young 
fruit, from one-and-a-half to three fluid ounces ; of the tincture 
of the root-bark or stem bark, from one to three fluid drachms ; 
and of the powder of any of the above drugs, from one to 
two drachms ; three or four times in the twenty-four hours. 
Of the infusion of flowers, from one-and-a-half to three fluid 
39 
