THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
MAY,  1894. 
MYRICA  NAG1  Thun r 
By  David  Hooper. 
Quinologist  to  the  Government  of  Madras. 
Among  the  large  number  of  astringent  drugs  indigenous  to  the 
East  Indies,  the  bark  of  the  Boxmyrtle  (Myrica  Nagi )  has  been 
long  known.  This  tree  belongs  to  a  small  natural  order  placed 
between  the  Urticaceae  and  the  Casuarinse,  and  grows  in  India,  the 
Malay  Islands,  China  and  Japan.  The  bark  is  collected  in  the  sub- 
tropical  Himalayas  at  altitudes  of  from  3,000  to  6,000  feet,  and  is 
occasionally  exported  in  large  quantities  to  the  plains.  It  is  used 
as  a  tan  for  fancy  leather  work,  and  in  some  districts  it  is  employed 
for  dyeing  a  peculiar  pink ;  but  as  it  is  kept  in  stock  by  the  native 
drug  shops  in  Northern  India  this  would  indicate  its  chief  use  as  a 
medicine. 
In  Sanskrit  works  the  bark  is  described  as  heating,  stimulant,  and 
useful  in  diseases  supposed  to  be  caused  by  deranged  phlegm,  such 
as  catarrhal  fever,  cough  and  affections  of  the  throat.  But  like 
most  Eastern  remedies  the  bark  is  mostly  prescribed  in  the  form  of 
a  mixture  with  other  stimulants,  alteratives  and  aromatics.  Dr.  U. 
C.  Dutt  speaks  of  the  powdered  bark  being  simply  used  as  a  snuff 
for  catarrh  with  headache.  Kaiphal,  the  Hindustani  name  of  the 
drug,  mixed  with  ginger,  according  to  some  doctors,  is  the  best 
medicine  for  cholera.  Hindus  and  Mohammedan  use  Kaiphal  at 
the  present  day  as  an  astringent  carminative  and  tonic,  and  pre- 
scribe it  for  chronic  cough,  fever  and  piles.  Mixed  with  vinegar  it 
strengthens  the  gums  and  cures  toothache.  It  will  be  seen  that  it 
is  used  where  astringents  are  required,  either  as  an  external  or 
(209) 
