923 Mukhara.--Commonly called Mukhana, Euryale ferox. It is cool and
heavy, useful in disorders of wind, mucus, and blood; is aphrodisiac,
and increases semen; and is found very beneficial to women after
labor. It is often called Talmukhana, but it is quite a different
medicine.
924 Mullagheer.--The name of a tree, the wood of which is very heavy,
and full of veins. It is brought from a distance; when pounded,
it is of a reddish black color, has fine smell, and is used in
India for dying and for giving a pleasant odour to clothes. It is
cardiac, strengthens the brain, and gives a pleasant effluvia to the
perspiration; cures discolorations of the skin of the face, and in
some Indian works is called a species of Sandal. Its properties are
the same with Rukutchunden.
925 Mulleka.--A kind of the flower of the Rai-bele: it is hot, light,
aphrodisiac; cures disorders of wind, eruptions of the mouth, and
all affections thereof.
926 Mulleen.--A root of India, of a clay color; hot, dry, and pungent;
if bruised and applied to the head, it kills vermin; it destroys
maggots in ulcers; the leaves possess the same property. I knew a
man who had severe head-aches from maggots in the brain: I squeezed
the juice of this into the nose, it killed and brought them away.
927 Moondie.--A. Raderyoos. "Spheranthus Indicus." It is also called
Tuppodenie, so denominated from its being used in penance; if any one
preserves a constant respect for this, he will become the peculiar
favorite of Heaven. It is also called Srawanie; this name is derived
from the circumstance of its bearing fruit in the month Srawun. The
leaf is somewhat like the mint, the flower round or globulated, and
of a rose-color; it has a sweet smell, and is a medicine of great
virtue. It is sweet and a little bitter, but very much so during
digestion; it is hot, light; increases understanding; is vermifuge;
useful in boils and eruptions of an obstinate nature; is pungent; cures
pains in the parts of generation of the female, marasmus, gonorrhoea,
and disorders of bile. If the plant be pulled out by the root before
it flowers, and dried in the shade, and ate with wheat flour, cow's
ghee, and sugar, it will restore and preserve youth, and prevent the
hair from becoming grey; and if pounded and often used in powder,
it will be found peculiarly tonic. If its seed be ate with sugar,
it will preserve health to the extreme of old age.
An old man is said to have eaten a preparation of this for a year
constantly: the strength of youth was restored to him, and he lived to
the age of 205 years. The physicians of India declare this to be the
basis of the Elixir VitÊ. If the plant is taken before it flowers,
and is bruised and eaten with ghee and honey, both the strength and
appearance of youth will be preserved. Indeed, the extent of its
virtues is only known to the most scientific of physicians. If its
flowers are eaten for 40 days, the same effect will be produced;
and the root used without intermission for a year, incalculable
benefit will be the result. If the root and leaves be bruised and
eaten for three days, with cow's milk and honey, it will be found
highly aphrodisiac. If one of the seeds be swallowed without water,
the eye-sight will be preserved, and no affection of the eyes will
take place for a year. If two are swallowed, the eye-sight will be
preserved for two years, and so on. I used it myself in my infancy,
or early days, and have preserved my sight in a wonderful manner. My
uncle used the distilled water of this, in depression of the spirits,
and as a cardiac, with great success: he sometimes distilled from
equal parts of this and Gowjeban, at other times with other cardiac
medicines. If half a masha of the oil of this be ate with Paan in the
cold weather, it will produce a genial warmth over the body; it will
also remove affections from cold, and be found aphrodisiac. The oil
is thus procured:
The plant is moistened with water, and then rubbed between the
hands with any sweet-scented oil, but not too much; it is then to
be extracted in the same manner as that of Agur is procured. If a
chittack of the following oil be eaten daily for 40 days, and during
this time abstaining from intercourse with woman, it will be found
that the aphrodisiac power will have become so great, that it will
seem wonderful. It is thus prepared:
Take the leaves, root, and all parts of the plant; bruise them,
sprinkling a little water over them; then squeeze out 20 seers of the
juice, and add to it five seers of sweet oil; boil the whole till the
juice shall have evaporated, and the residue is the oil. Some use the
medicine in this manner. During the months of August and September,
with cow's ghee. In April and May, with honey. In June and July, with
sugar. In February and March, with congee. In October and November,
with cow's milk; and in December and January, with sour milk. The
author of the Dhara Shekoi has said that the root is to be bruised in a
copper vessel, with a pestle of the Neeb tree, adding a little water,
till it has become black; then taken up by dipping cotton into it,
and preserved for use. In the ophthalmia, a little of the cotton
moistened and applied to the eye, will remove the disease.
Maadentezerrubad.
Moondie is a medicine of India, of two kinds, a large and small;
its flowers are like buttons, and it is of a bitterish, astringent
taste. It is cool and dry in the 1st degree, and is, in the opinion
of some, in equilibrium: both kinds of it are beneficial in disorders
of the blood, white leprosy, epilepsy, heart-burn, elephantiasis,
cough, incessant vomiting, diarrhoea, flatulence, all disorders of
the eyes, feverish head-ache, itch, heat in the chest, marasmus,
and all bilious disorders; it creates appetite, and is aphrodisiac.
928 Munn.--P. Morhoemarh. A. Hujuroolheya. A stone found in the nape
of the neck of a snake of the Cobra species, but it is not found in
all; when in the reptile, it is soft, but it hardens by exposure to
the air. It has a variegated surface, and its virtues are these,
that if rubbed on a blue or black woollen cloth, it will deprive
the cloth of its color; also, if applied to any part bitten by a
reptile, it will adhere till it shall have extracted the poison. If
it be put into milk, it will change its color. If it is applied to
the bite of a snake, it will extract the poison. And if it be eaten,
no snake can ever by its bite produce hurtful effects on your system.
929 Munsul.--Bitter, pungent, hot, and moist; heavy and aperient;
an antidote to poisons; cures affections of mucus, blood, difficulty
of breathing, and cough; clears the color of the skin, reduces
corpulency; and removes possession by evil spirits. It is called
Zernikh Soorkh. "Red Sulphuret of Arsenic."