104
MATERIAL MEDICAL
in taste, with a peculiar and somewhat disagreeable smell. The nuts
are oval and pale or greyish-brown with a thin and brittle shell, and
an oily and very bitter kernel. The dry flowers are very small, pale
or yellowish white, and possess a slight and peculiar aroma when
recently dried. The gum is found in small and roundish tears, trans-
lucent, generally reddish in color but sometimes clear and colorless, and
possesses, when new, a slightly bitterish taste.
The ním or margosa toddy is an important therapeutic agent and
requires a special notice. This toddy or sap is yielded either spon-
taneously or extracted artificially. In the former case, a clear and
colorless liquid begins to flow in a very thin stream or continuous drops
from two or three and sometimes more parts of the plant, and con-
tinues to do so from three to seven weeks. The trunk and large
branches and roots are the parts from which the flow takes place
through very small and recent cracks or fissures, and the quantity of
the liquid discharged in the 24 hours from the whole tree varies from
2 to 8 bottles according to its size. Of the several margosa trees in
Madras and its vicinity known to yield occasionally the sap under
discussion, there was one in Mylapore which enjoyed the greatest
repute in thins respect. This plant was in a small street at the southern
end of the above village and died about 15 or 16 years ago. It was a
pretty large tree, about 50 or 60 years old, and produced the sap every
3rd or 4th year. After the last or 4th occasion, the trunk became
rapidly hollow and the plant dried soon after this. On each occasion,
before the sap began to flow, there was always, for 3 or 4 days, a
distinct and peculiar rushing or pumping noise of a liquid within the
trunk, and did not entirely cease till the discharge actually commenced
from 3 or 4 parts of the plant. This is more like au animal or vital
phenomenon than anything else.
The above phenomenon being a sure forerunner of the flow of the
sap, as just explained, the owner of the plant (Faiz Aimed Khan)
always gave notice of its occurrence to all his neighbours and many
other persons, with a view to be prepared to avail themselves of this
extremely rare medicine if they were in need of it. The fame of the
sap as a curative agent was certainly so great that the plant was sur-
rounded by people morning and evening, who bought and drank the
drug very eagerly . T h e p r i c e o f i t w a s v e r y v a r i a b l e , b u t g e n e r a l l y
between 4 and 10 annas per bottle, and at one time it rose to a rupee
for the same quantity. The sap was more or less bitterish in taste
with a slight and peculiar aroma of the ním tree, and was never known
to ferment or possess any intoxicating property. The word toddy is,
therefore, not correctly applicable to this liquid drug. I have already
mentioned the diseases which were most benefited by its use under the
healing of "Therapeutic Uses."
The ním trees which yield the sap artificially seem to be more rare,
for I have heard only of 3 or 4 of such plants. All these are said to
have been pretty young and large trees, and were found near water or
on the banks of nullas or water-courses which were constantly wet.
The sap was extracted from them in the following manner:—A mode-
rate-sized and fresh-looking root being exposed by removing the earth,
it was either cut through or only to half of its circumference from
below, and then a vessel was placed beneath to receive the liquid,