Page:A Short History of Aryan Medical Science.djvu/148

140 with two parts of sulphur, is to be moulded into a ball and covered over with a layer of Punarnava (Boerhaavia diffusa) about one inch thick. Place this in an earthen pot, and roast it in Valukayantra (an apparatus, see Plate IV.) for twelve hours. After taking it off the fire, put the mass into the hollowed root of Shurana (Arum Colocasia), cover it with a coating of dung and clay, and expose it to heat. This makes the metal fit for reduction to powder, which is used in cases of enlargement of the liver and spleen, gout and rheumatism.

In order to purify tin, first melt and then soak it three times in succession in oil, whey, Kanjika (sour gruel), cow's urine, and lastly in the juice of Arka (Calotropis gigantea). Melt the purified metal in an earthen crucible, adding to it the powder of tamarind and banyan tree barks in the proportion of four to one. Stir and rub them with an iron ladle. Mix with the powder an equal quantity of Talaka and triturate in an acid juice. Expose it to fire ; again add one-tenth of its quantity of Talaka, and again rub it and put it over a fire. Repeat the process ten times, or until the metal is reduced to bhasma, which is said to be a good remedy for painful