OF MADRAS.
97
Price .—Wholesale, Rs. 3 per maund ; retail or bazaar, As. 2 per
pound.
Physiological Actions.—Internal and external stimulant, expectorant,
s
stimulant-diuretic and stomachic. It is also a slight hepatic stimulant.
Therapeutic Uses. —Useful in jaundice not depending on mechanical
obstruction and in some slight and chronic cases of diarrhœa, dysentery,
dyspepsia, pulmonary affections and hæmorrhoids. In the form of an
oily solution, it exercises some good influence over the growth of the
hair ; and in that of an ointment, it excites a healthy action in some
weak and unhealthy kinds of ulceration.
Preparations.—Powder, oily solution and ointment. The powder is
prepared in the usual way and kept in a stoppered bottle. Best used
with sugar and water. Oily solution : Take of the resin, in powder, two
ounces ; jinjily or gingelly oil, six fluid ounces ; mix and rub well in a
mortar ; heat the oil on a slow fire for 15 minutes, stirring it frequently,
and strain the same while hot through cloth. It should be rubbed
well to the roots of the hair once or twice a day for some weeks, the
bottle being well shaken before use on each occasion. Ointment : "Take
of Olibanum, Sesamum or Poppy oil, and white wax, of each an ounce.
Melt together with a gentle heat and strain " (Pharm. of India, p. 53).
Dose.— Of the powder, from one to two drachms, three or four times
in the twenty-four hours.
European Drugs for which it may be substituted.—Benzoate of soda,
Gummi-Rubrum, Gum-Ammoniacum and Abietis Resina.
Remarks.—When
Olibanum or Indian frankincense occurs in small
tears it is recognized as Kundur in the local market, and when it is
found in soft and irregular masses (as it does sometimes when it is new)
it is called Gandah-férózah. The latter is, however, properly the name
of some varieties of turpentine.
There are two distinet varieties of Olibanum in the bazaars of
Madras, in one of which the tears of the drug are proportionately very
large, and in the other very small. In the large variety, which is
more readily recognised under the Tamil synonym "
P a r a n g i - S h á m b i - r á n i
" i n S o u t h I n d i a , t h e t e a r s a r e e i t h e r s e p a r a t e a n d d i s t i n e t , o r
agglutinated together and form large and irregular masses. When
separate, the tears are generally oval, oblong or roundish ; reddish-
yellow, reddish-brown, pale-white, yellowish-white or deep-grey in color ;
and vary in their dimension in the thickest part from three lines to one
inch. They are translucent, possess a slight balsamic and agreeable
odor, and also a slight balsamic and somewhat pungent taste. When
chewed in the mouth, they do not dissolve, but become soft, elastic,
white and opaque, imparting at the same time some whiteness to the
saliva. When two or three tears agglutinate together, they still retain
all the above characters, except the irregularity and largeness of the
size, which are the necessary results of the agglutination. But, if the
agglutination involves more than three or four tears, the resulting mass
is extremely irregular, greyish or yellowish brown, rough, and generally
contains much impurities, as fragments of bark, fibres, &c. These
masses when new and very soft, are considered erroneously to be a
variety of Gandah-férózah, as already remarked.
N