N. O. PEPAEINE.R. 
953 
the hair and make it black ; a decoction of the root i8 used to 
have the same properties ; a powder made from the roasted and 
decorticated seeds is called Rahisee in Arabic and Arwah-i- 
kunjad in Persian ; ft is used as an emollient both externally and 
internally (Dymock). 
The Editor for many years employed the oil as a substitute 
for olive oil, in the preparation of Linimentum Calais, and found 
it answer well. The poorer natives use it much for dietetieal 
purposes. The seeds have powerfully emmenagogue properties 
assigned to them, and it is believed by the natives and Indo- 
’ Britons that, if taken largely, they are capable of producing 
abortion. In amenorrhoea, the employment of a warm sitz bath 
containing a handful of the seeds, bruised, has been reported to 
the Editor, on good authority, to be an efficient mode of treat- 
ment. The alleged emmenagogue properties of these seeds 
deserve further investigation. The leaves ( Sesami folia or 
Benne leaves) are officinal in the secondary list of the U. S. 
Pharmacopoeia ; they abound with thick viscid mucilage, which 
is readily imparted to water, and an infusion of them is much 
used in the Southern States of North America in all affections 
requiring demulcents. One or two full-sized fresh leaves, 
infused or agitated in half a pint of cold water, will soon render 
it sufficiently viscid for this purpose. If the dried leaves be 
used, hot water should be substituted for the cold. The leaves 
also serve for the preparation of emollient poultices (U. S. 
Disp., p. 714). How far the leaves of the Indian grown plant 
may be used in this way remains to be determined (Ph. Ind.). 
“ I have employed,” Dr. Evers says, “ the mucilage, obtained 
from the leaves of the Indian plant, in the treatment of sixteen 
cases of dysentery, and in all recovery followed. From six to 
seven days was the time necessary for such treatment. I confess, 
however, that my cases were not ~of the virulent type seen 
towards the end of the rainy season. The drug acts simply as 
a demulcent, and does not, in my opinion, exert any specific 
influence on the disease ; furthermore, it is necessary to combine 
an opiate with it, to relieve the tenesmus,- so that probably the 
opium added has as much to do in checking the disease as the 
120 
