Page:A Short History of Aryan Medical Science.djvu/135

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Chap. VII.]
INDIAN MATERIA MEDICA.
127

and producing sleep. The European doctors seem to have learnt the therapeutic use of opium from Indian practitioners, though Scribonius Largus has noticed Opium early in the first century. Some more drugs which happened to be introduced into India during the Mahomedan rule are : —

Alu (Prunus bocariensis) is used in bilious affections and fevers.

Badian (Illicium anisatum) is a Persian drug, and its oil is applied to the joints in rheumatism.

Banafsha (Viola odorata) is employed in bilious affections and constipation.

Gaozaban (Onosma bracteatum) is used in leprosy, hypochondriasis, and syphilis.

Gul-e-daudi (Chrysanthemum Roxburghii) is prescribed as a demulcent in gonorrhoea.

Kerba (Panitis succinifer) is antispasmodic and stimulant.

Kharjura (Phaenix dactylifera) is nutritive and used as desert.

The Mussulman rule was supplanted by the English, whose power was firmly established in India in the eighteenth century. The English brought with them their own doctors, who prescribed European medicines, before which the