306 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
ounces; of the mucilage of the gum, from one to two fluid 
ounces; three or four times in the twenty-four hours 
“ Remarks — No less than nine parts of the margosa nlm tree 
are employed in medicine, and I am not aware of any other 
plant which produces so many drugs. 
“ The nim or margosa to-day is an important therapeutic 
agent and requires a special notice. The toddy or sap is yielded 
either spontaneously or extracted artificially. In the former 
case, a clear and colorless liquid begins to flow iu a very thin 
stream or continuous drops, from two or three and sometimes 
more parts of the plant, and continues to do so from three to 
seven weeks. The trunk and large branches and roots are 
the parts from which the flow takes place through very small 
and receut cracks or fissures, and the quantity of the liquid 
discharged in the 24 hours from the whole tree varies from two 
to eight bottles according to its size. 'Of the several margosa 
trees in Madras and its vicinity known to yield occasionally 
the sap under discussion, there was one in Mylapore which 
enjoyed the greatest repute in this respect. This plant was 
in a small street, at the southern end of die above village, 
and died about 15 or 16 years ago. It was a pretty large tree, 
about 50 or 60 years old, and produced the sap every 3rd or 
4th year. After the last or fourth occasion, the trunk became 
rapidly hollow and the plant died soon after this. On each 
occasion, before the sap began to flow, there was always, for 
three or four days, a distinct and peculiar rushing or pumping 
noise of a liquid within the trunk, which did not entirely cease 
till the discharge actually commenced from three or four parts 
of the plant. 
“The above phenomenon being a sure forerunner of the 
How of the sap, as just explained, the owner of the plant (Faiz 
Ahmed Khan) always gave notice of its occurrence to all his 
neighbours and many other persons, with a view to be prepared 
to avail themselves of this extremely rare medicine if they were 
iu need of it. The fame of the sap as. a curative agent was 
certainly so great that the plant was surrounded by people 
morning and evening, who bought and drank the drug very 
