Part 7

106 Parba.--Cervus Porcinus. Very common in the upper parts of India; its properties I have never seen noticed in any Indian publication. I have met with a description of another kind of deer, Cheetul, and in my opinion they are nearly alike in their properties; the flesh of both easy of digestion, quickly increasing the volume of blood and bulk of the solids; it is without fibres, hot and somewhat dry.

107 Bander.--Monkey. The flesh is beneficial in flatulencies, difficulty of breathing, and Jaundice, and is vermifuge; in P. Bozeena.

108 Baag.--In P. Sher. The Tiger. Its flesh is hot, and cures affections from wind, and complaints of the eyes. Its milk, mixed with Soorma, is an excellent application in that disease of the eye called Mootiabin. My grandfather experienced its good effects in his own case in the cure of this disease.

109 Palug.--A much esteemed kind of culinary vegetable (Spinnach.) A. Isphanach: cool and heavy, laxative, producing wind and mucus, as also swelling of the abdomen. It is beneficial in difficulty of breathing, and eruptions from bile. Some say that it produces intoxication in a small degree, but this I have not found to be the case.

110 Paan.--Aromatic, bitter, astringent, hot, and aperient. ("Piper Betel, Lin. Warm juice, febrifuge; given in indigestion in children, and combined with musk in Hysteria.") It creates appetite and agreeable sensations; it also increases semen, and is aphrodisiac. It cures disorders of wind, mucus, and of the blood; corrects vitiated breath, preserves the gums, clears the blood, is useful in prostration of strength from fatigue, and cures nervous head-aches. Its juice is beneficial in giving tone to the stomach and heart, and it promotes digestion. It corrects a cold temperament, cures cholicky disorders, and pains of the bowels, and this I have repeatedly found by experience. In my own opinion, and in the opinion of every Yunani writer whom I have consulted, (with the exception of Shaik Boo Alli,) it is hot; but the physicians of Hindoostan very generally agree with the Shaik. Those of a hot temperament, who use much of this plant, are subject to eruptions of the mouth, and fissures in the tongue. Its correctors are almonds and the kernel of the cocoa-nut, but the former is to be preferred, and the addition of the almond increases its effects on the mental powers.

The distilled water of Paan, as described below, is recommended for correcting a melancholic temperament, strengthening the stomach and circulation, removing spasms in the stomach, creating appetite, correcting flatulence, and loosening phlegm.

Take flowers of Bugloss 5 scruples, rose leaves 6 drachms, cloves 13 scruples, Paan 4 ounces, distilled water of Bugloss two pounds, rose water 6 pounds: distil, and give as a dose from one to four drachms. Another: take of cinnamon 13 scruples, Indian Spikenard and Galangal, each 14 1/2 scruples; Bugloss, Soad Kufah, and dried mint, each 19 scruples; rose leaves and cloves each 24 scruples; anise seed (Nancha), and another kind called Rajiana, and sweet-scented flag of Toorkistan, each 19 scruples; Paan 50 leaves or more, good rose water 15 pounds: distil. The dose to be regulated by the temperament of the patient.

Another: take of Indian leaf (Tezpat), 1/2 a pound; cloves, Indian Spikenard, and anise seed (Nancha), each 4 ounces, good Paan 200 leaves; bruise all the ingredients, and let them remain in infusion for 24 hours in 20 pounds of water, then draw off by distillation 14 pounds: the dose will be from 8 to 10 scruples given after meals.

Another: take of cloves, Oodghoorkee, each 13 scruples; reduce both to a coarse powder; flowers of Bugloss, raspings of white Sandal wood, each 5 1/2 scruples; Bugloss, rose leaves and Indian leaf, each 4 ounces; white Paan 100 leaves, rose water 8 pounds, distilled anise seed water 4 pounds; infuse 24 hours in the heated liquids, and draw off by distillation 8 pounds.

111 Pariss Peepul.--Called also Palass Peepul, (Hibiscus populneoides, Roxb.)

112 Para, or Parud, (as it is called in Sanscrit,) Mercury. It is hot, gives strength to the eyesight, is useful in Juzam, and is vermifuge. A. Zeebuck. P. Seemab. It is very generally used throughout India, in many ways, both in its native and prepared state; but in the latter we ought to be very cautious, for it is seldom sufficiently killed, or removed from its native state, in which it is a dangerous drug. One grain or two grains, or even a little more, is taken for a dose, and in some cases with success. Cups are also made of it, from which milk is drank; they possess this virtue, that a greater quantity of milk may be taken in this way than in any other. It is said, that if a little Mercury be tied up in a cloth, and boiled in milk, that the milk will have an aphrodisiac property. Should any one have taken live Mercury, and the result be, that he is attacked with Juzam, or other leprous affection, let him take the whole of an Indigo plant, and cutting it in small pieces, let it be boiled in a large quantity of water; then straining it, drink a cupful of the water very frequently, till all is taken, and till then eat no food. All the Mercury will in the course of the day be evacuated per urethra, and if the whole does not make its escape the first day, the treatment must be repeated. If the urine be received into a brass vessel, or any other with a polished surface, the Mercury will be detected; many people having been in this predicament, have followed this advice, and found the result to be as I have stated it.

In a state of calcination, if it is mixed with strong vinegar, or lime juice, and afterwards dried, if no live Mercury appears it is good; otherwise it is dangerous. Others have said, that if mixed and rubbed with the juice of the radish leaf, till they are incorporated, and then a little lime juice poured over it, and again rubbed and dried, it will be fit for use; and the less live Mercury that is perceptible, the less dangerous it is.

To make cups and balls of Mercury, triturate the Mercury well with pounded bricks, in an iron pot, moistening the mixture with water; wash the whole in water, and strain through a moderately fine cloth, till the Mercury becomes perfectly clear like a looking glass. Take equal parts of this purified quicksilver, rock salt, and sulphate of copper, and put them into an iron pot, with strong vinegar or lime juice, and let the whole be well triturated for 7 or 8 hours, when the compound will appear like butter; wash this well in water, that the salt and sulphate be carried off, and the Mercury left behind; take this Mercury and coat over the outside of an unburnt earthen vessel or cup, till it shall be well covered and appear like Mercury; place this in a dish filled with lime juice, and let it remain for a week, then take it out and place it in the sun to dry and harden; when quite hard, it may be used in this way, or it may be filled with water and kept so, till the clay becomes soft enough to be separated from the quicksilver. Milk drank from this cup will have an aphrodisiac quality, and will increase appetite. For the formation of this cup, 9 or 10 tolahs of quicksilver will be requisite, and for the balls one tolah.

The Balls.--When the ingredients above-mentioned have, from long trituration, acquired the consistence of butter, balls may be formed of the composition in a fine cloth, and allowed to remain for 7 days in lime juice; then take them out and throw them into a boiling decoction of the Dhatura leaves, allowing it to be well boiled. The balls are then to be taken out of the cloth and preserved for use.

In the Maadentezerrubad it is said, that if a small parcel of Mercury be boiled in soup, made from the Bis-Copra, it will become hard.

113 Baboona, or Marehtee: Anthemis Chamomile; a common flower, Akhgwan.

114 Bans.--A. Russub. P. Ney. Its leaves like those of the Joowar, when they are young; it is cool and a little astringent, beneficial in dysuria, gonorrhÊa, piles, in stomach complaints, bilious disorders, and those of the blood, in cholicky pains from flatulence. Some say, that it increases the secretion of bile. A preserve is made from the young shoots which is much esteemed, and is useful in promoting appetite and giving tone to the stomach, correcting an increased secretion of bile or phlegm. The young shoots are first cut into small pieces, and steeped in salt and water; then dried, and afterwards put into the vinegar or other acid, in which it is to be preserved. The root of the bamboo in equal parts, with Judw·r (Zedoary), and Suronjan (Hermodactylis), applied externally, I have found very effectual in removing pains from the joints. The oil expressed from the fresh joints of the plants, is also very beneficial in pains of the joints and other rheumatic affections. Mention is made of this oil in the Hajul Umeer and Ejale na·f, works written by me.

The joints of the bamboo are very useful as a diuretic, and they also are effectual in producing abortion, and made into a decoction with Cassia fistula, are recommended for recorrecting and stopping the discharge after such an occurrence.

115 Badgan Khutay.--No account having been given of this in any of the Yunani works, it is left for me to give a description of it. It is a seed of a dark red color, the capsule resembles the stone of the tamarind, but is more thin and pointed, and a little open; it is used as an infusion with tea; it is hot, strengthens the stomach; is discutient, removes flatulence, and the tea corrects any bad effects that it may possess.

116 Baremoo.--A name for Dookoo.

117 Barehie.--A name for Zedoary.

118 Patirr.--The Wagtail, called in Yunani, Suffraghoon.

119 Parjath, or Parbhudder, (Bombax heptaphyllum.) The gum useful as an expectorant in worms, corpulency, swellings, and wind; it also increases certain secretions; the gum is called Moocherriss.

120 Balchur.--A name for Chur (Spikenard).

121 Baeberung.--A seed, black, roundish, and pointed; bitter and pungent to the taste, hot and dry, light and cardiac; beneficial in itchiness of the stomach, flatulent swellings, dropsy, affections of mucus, wind, or worms, and remedies costiveness. A. Birnuk Caboolie.

122 Badjera.--Holcus Spicatum. A common grain; in my opinion hot and dry; it strengthens the system and loins; is aphrodisiac, and corrects acidity in the stomach, but produces flatulence.

123 Papeyha.--Papeya, Carica Papeya, W. A native of South America, now common all over India; milky juice of the unripe fruit, vermifuge; dose,--two table spoonfuls in warm milk, afterwards a dose of castor-oil.

124 Papieha.--A common green bird; the poets of Hindoostan keep numbers of them, and have an idea that the noise they make at night, in the rainy season, produces inspiration. Its flesh is useful in affection from wind and mucus, and is alone sufficient to remove disorders from bile.