Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/146

66 in the second century a duty was levied on it at the Roman custom-house of Alexandria; also that it was preserved in singular little jars which are now to be found in collections of Greek antiquities.

The fruit, which is of a beautiful purple colour and covered with a delicate bloom, is eatable, and is exported in a dried state.

Use:—The mode of preparation of the extract Rasot, Rasvanti or Rasanjan is as follows:—Take 4 tolas of the Root cut into thin slices, boil it in half a seer of water, until reduced to a mass weighing 8 tolas; add to it eight tolas of goat's milk, and boil again into a solid mass. This mass is Rasot—(Dr. T. M. Shah of Junagadh). The following powder is given as an effective remedy in dysenteric diarrhoea, in one dram doses. Take equal parts of Rasot, the bark and seeds. Holorrhena antidysenterica, (kuda) the flowers of Woodfordia floribunda (Dhaiti), and the root-tube of Aconitum heterophyllum (Atis) and ginger, and reduce them to an impalpable powder (Dr. Shah).

Dr. Shah recommends Rasot, opium, alum and Bal-Hirda (immature fruit of chebulic Myrobalan), rubbed on a stone, in equal parts, as an external application round inflamed eyes.

Mr. W. H. Lovegrove, Conservator of Forests, Jammu and Kashmir State, contributes an article on "Rasaunt" to The Indian Forester for May 1914 (pages 229-232), from which the following extracts are made:—

"Rasaunt is a brown extract prepared from the root and lower stem wood of Berberies aristata, Berberies Lycium and probably Berberies asiatica or voriaria. The Berberis is locally called Kemlu. "In boiling out the product large quantities of green fuel are burnt. The common species used are banj (Quercus inca.ua), keint (Pijms Pashia), kakoa (Flucourtia Ramontchi), kembla (Mallotus philippinensis) and other broad leaves. Dry fuel is objected to as being more difficult to control in the kind of furnace used. The roots of the berberies are dug up and after cutting off, say, the upper ¾ of the stem branches are well washed to remove all earth and foreign matter. They are then cut up into small pieces, the smaller the better. In the Basantgarh Range the sizes of the chips are about 1½" or 2" X ¼" or ½", but in : the Basohli Tabsil (which prides itself on producing a better quality Rasaunt) the pieees are much smaller.