Page:Illustrations of Indian Botany, Vol. 1.djvu/159

 so frequent in Senegal : mixed with tamarinds it is considered by the natives a certain cure for dysentery, while the gum is equally prized as a remedy against heat of urine. As this tree is not uncommon in India now, and as I can bear testimony to the correctness of the description of the sensible qualities of the pulp, it seems desirable that it should be subjected to some trials to ascertain whether the curative properties attributed to this substance, not by vulgar report only, but by attentive medical men, who have had many opportunities of observing its effects and have themselves used it, are such as they describe. According to the predominating theories of the day, all these intestinal affections are attributed to an inflammatory or sub- inflammatory state of the lining membranes of the intestines, for which acidulous emollient drinks are strongly recommended. Such a combination of acidulous and aperient emollients seem therefore well suited to fulfil the indications of cure laid down for the treatment of the milder forms of these complaints, and which, according to the French school, are the only certain ones in the cure of these diseases so frequent in hot countries and seasons. We are indebted to Dr. Louis Frank, a French physician, who witnessed the mode of treatment pursued in dysentery in the caravans travelling from Nubia to Cairo, and had in that situation an opportunity of observing the good effects of the remedy, which he afterwards most successfully adopted, for much of the information we possess regarding the medical properties of the fruit of the Boabab tree. I extract his account as given in Merat's and DeLens' Dictionnaire Universel de Mat : Medicale, of the method of using it for the cure of dysentery.

On the first appearance of the disease the patient restricts himself to a very spare diet, using for drink a weak decoction of tamarinds. If the disease does not speedily abate he then has recourse to the fruit of the Boabab, which some precede by small doses of rhubarb. It is the spongy redish friable substance of the fruit that is used. If there is no amendment at the end of a few days, a paste is made of the powdered bark of the fruit mixed with water, of which about the size of a chesnut is given several times in the course of the day, and sometimes a drink is prepared of the torrified seeds, of which the patient takes repeated doses daily.

In one case of dysentery of twenty-five days standing, in which Dr. Frank prescribed this fruit " it cured as if by enchantment." — Many other patients were thus treated with equal success.

The following interesting account of this tree was drawn up by Dr. Hooker, and published in the Botanical Magazine, Nos. 2791—92. " The ADANSONIA digitat, ETHIOPIAN SOUR GOURD, MONKIEY BREAD, or BAOBAB, is a native of Senegal. It is said likewise to be found in Egypt and Abyssinia, and is besides cultivated in many of the warmer parts of the world. There seems to be no question that it is the largest known tree ; the diameter of the trunk, Adanson says, being sometimes no less than thirty feet. Although it has been introduced into Britain, according to the Hortus Kewensis so long ago as the year 1724, by William Sherard, Esq. yet, as may be supposed, so vast a tree is not likely, in our stoves, to arrive at that size, when its flowers and fruit may be expected. Hence, I trust, that representations of so great a rarity, taken, in part, from drawings made in India, and kindly lent to me by Major General Hardwicke, and in part, from specimens of the fruit and flowers sent to me in spirits, by Mr. Guilding, from St. Vincent, may be generally acceptable to the Botanical world. Adanson, during his visit to Senegal, has given a full and interesting account of this tree and, certainly, not the least striking circumstances respecting it are, its enormous size, and its great age, whence it has been called " Arbre de mille Ans," and whence too, Humboldt has been led to speak of it as, " the oldest organic monument of our planet." Its trunk, indeed, great as is its diameter, has a height by no means proportionable to its breadth. Adanson calculates as follows : That a tree of I year old is 1 in. or 1½ in. diameter, 5 in. in height. 20 I foot 15 30 2 22 100 4 29 1000 .. 14 58 2400 18 64 5150 30 73