Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/523

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N. O. LEGUMMINOSÆ.
443


as a rubefacient. I have used them successfully for the cure of the form of herpes, known as dhobie's itch (Surgeon-Major Dymoch, p. 188). When made into a paste, they are used as a remedy for ringworm.

The flowers are astringent, depurative, diuretic, and aphrodisiac ; as a poultice, they are used to disperse swellings and promote diuresis and the menstrual flow. They are given to enciente women in cases of diarrhœa, and are applied externally in orchitis.

The leaves are described by the Makhzan-ul-Adwiya as astringent, tonic, and aphrodisiac, are used to disperse boils and pimples, and are given internally in flatulent colic, worms, and piles.

The bark, according to Rheede's Hortus Malabaricus, is given in conjunction with ginger in cases of snake-bite.

" I have tried the seeds of B. frondosa internally in numerous cases, and they are neither purgative nor febrifuge, at least not in one-drachm doses, — the largest quantity I have yet used. There is, however, no doubt that they are anthelmintic, at least to some extent. Administered in powder, morning and evening, for 2 or 3 days, and followed by a dose of some purgative, they generally expel from 1 to 3 or 4 round-worms, but failure is more frequent than success. That these seeds are not powerful enough to act always against the worms, is proved by the expulsion of the latter in large numbers in many. cases by the use of santonine immediately after having failed with butea seeds. Both the kernel and the testa of the seeds possess the anthelmintic property. Dose of the powder for an adult from 30 grains to 1 drachm. Four grains is an average dose for a child of 4 years.

The inspissated juice of this plant (the Butea Kino of Indian commerce) is a good astringent, and as such is useful in all the complaints in which the true Kino is indicated. It has been used in the same forms as those of the latter, but in somewhat larger doses, — viz., from 15 to 40 grains (Honorary Surgeon Moodeen Sheriff, Khan Bahadur, Madras).