Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/363

Rh quantity of curds, is said to be a valuable remedy in dysentery" (Dymock.)

"The resin is terebinthinate-stimulant, its action being chiefly directed to the mucous surface of the genito-urinary organs and of the large and small intestines ; and the bark is tonic and demulcent.

"The resin, particularly its first or soft variety, possesses a great control over acute dysentery and diarrhœa. In gonorrhœa, gleet, chronic bronchitis and cystitis also it proves very useful and exercises a distinct beneficial influence. As a tonic, the bark resembles calumba and quassia, and like them it is administered with the preparations of iron, since it contains no tannin and is devoid of astringency.

" Remarks. — : There are three varieties of the resin of A. malabarica, which, for the sake of convenience, may be called the first or soft, the second or flat, and the third or hard. The resin of the first variety is collected in bamboo-joints, one of which I have received from the Annamullay forests in the Coimbatore district. This variety is never found in the bazaars of Madras or any other place, as far as my knowledge extends, but is occasionally supplied by special request to exhibitions and to medical men requiring to examine or use it, by the Forest Department. When new, the resin in this variety is grey, very soft, viscid, plastic, opaque, and bears a great resemblance in its appearance to the birdlime prepared from the milky juice of Ficus glomerata. It retains its grey color internally for a long time, but every part of it which comes in contact with the atmosphere becomes reddish-brown in a few hours and then deep-brown. The resin has an agreeable aromatic or balsamic odour, and though it is not soluble in saliva, it produces a terebinthinate taste in the mouth when chewed. The resin is neither soluble nor miscible in cold or hot water. It is, however, miscible with the aid of rubbing and grinding in alcohol, ether and many fixed and essential oils, as cocoanut, olive, turpentine, cajuput, anise, &c. After the lapse of some, months, the resin, if exposed to the air, becomes much harder and feels as tough as wax ; and after a few months more, it is