AmNov.?iffiarm'}       •      Sanscrit  Pharmacopeia.  53* 
translating  into  Guzerati,  and,  in  return  for  certain  favors  received, 
he  showed  me  his  translation,  some  of  the  more  interesting  parts  of 
which  I  was  able,  with  his  assistance  and  that  of  a  dictionary,  to 
further  translate  into  English.  The  greatest  difficulty  that  stood  in 
the  way  was  that  his  knowledge  was  not  sufficient  to  bring  the 
names  of  diseases  or  drugs  any  nearer  than  Guzerati.  However,  he 
was  able  to  give  me  a  full  description  of  the  symptoms  of  the  dis- 
eases and  furnish  me  with  specimens  of  most  of  the  drugs,  with  the 
result  that  in  nearly  every  case  I  was  able  to  find  the  English 
synonym. 
The  manuscript  in  question  appears  to  be  arranged  in  a  very 
unsystematic  manner.  It  is  divided  into  a  number  of  chapters. 
Starting  with  an  article  on  "  Fever  Medicines,"  it  goes  on  to  treat 
of  "  Purgatives,"  "  Female  Diseases,"  "  Pills,"  "  Powders,"  "  Oint- 
ments," "Aphrodisiacs,"  "  Cough  Medicines,"  "  Oils,"  etc.,  each 
chapter  containing  a  more  or  less  lengthy  list  of  recipes,  some  very 
sensible,  others  amusing  in  their  absurdity.  It  would  be  impossible, 
even  if  desirable,  to  go  through  the  whole  list,  so  I  have  singled  out 
a  few  of  the  more  important  groups,  and  from  these  will  select  the 
more  interesting  formulae. 
(i)  OILS. 
The  oils  used  in  native  practice  are  very  many,  the  natives  of 
India  appearing  to  place  great  faith  in  such  forms  of  medication. 
They  are  generally  applied  externally,  but  are  often  taken  in  doses 
of  I  or  2  drops  on  betel  leaf  [Piper  betel)  for  various  complaints. 
Although  the  processes  for  the  preparation  of  these  oils  are,  as  a 
rule,  varied  and  complicated,  they  end  in  most  cases  with  distillation, 
and  consequently  a  description  of  this  process  as  carried  out  by  the 
natives  might  with  advantage  be  given  here  before  proceeding  to 
describe  the  oils  themselves. 
The  process  of  distillation  is  a  very  primitive  one  indeed.  A 
quantity  of  the  bruised  drug  is  mixed  with  a  certain  proportion  of 
milk ;  this  is  left  to  macerate  for  four  or  five  days,  after  which  it  is 
put  into  a  vessel  made  of  metal  or  glass.  This  vessel,  which  con- 
sists of  two  flask-shaped  portions,  the  necks  of  which  fit  into  one 
another,  is  now  closed,  and  the  lower  or  empty  part  buried  in  the 
ground,  whilst  the  upper  part,  which  contains  the  drug,  remains 
exposed  above  the  earth.    A  fire  is  now  kindled  round  the  upper 
