105 Barasinga.--Cervus Elaphus. Called so from its many branched horns;
it is about the size of a small cow, and is also called Thunkur
or Eal. Its meat is sweet to the taste, and heavy; it increases
Aphrodisia, cures wind, bile, and mucus. The horns rubbed down in
water, and applied externally, cure rheumatic and other pains.
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.