OF MADRAS.
105
which began to dribble or flow in a very small and thin stream. The
sap thus collected is supposed to be identical with that produced by the
tree spontaneously, but comparatively very small in quantity, amounting
generally to only from 2 to 6 bottles in the 24 hours. I think if many
of the margosa plants growing near water be tried in the manner I just
explained, a much larger percentage of them will be found capable of
yielding the liquid than is generally supposed at present.
The ním or margosa trees are bestowed with another property,
which is much more important than any of those I have already men-
tioned. I allude to the healthiness they impart to the atmosphere.
Some villages in South India are known to be quite free from cholera
from the time it came into existence, and this immunity is attributable
to their being surrounded by, or containing a much larger number of,
those trees than usual. Although I am not personally acquainted with
any of such villages, I am aware of some houses which enjoyed a similar
exemption from cholera during its epidemics, while all other surrounding
and adjoining houses suffered repeatedly from its visits. My own house
is the best example of this kind. I live in Royapettah, opposite to the
Triplicane Dispensary, and my house is separated from the latter only
by a road. The Hospital attached to this Dispensary, which is com-
monly known as the Royapettah Hospital, being the only Hospital in
Madras on the south of the Mount Road, in which the sick are treated
as in-patients, a large number of cholera cases are admitted into it
from all the neighbouring and adjacent villages during every epidemic
of that disease. The result is that Royapettah seldom or never escapes
cholera whenever it prevails epidemically in any part of the southern
half of the city of Madras, and often suffers from it more extensively
and for a longer period than many other parts. In a locality like this,
where the epidemics of cholera are so frequent and prolonged, as just
explained, my house has escaped the visits of that disease during the
last 25 years, while all others in the immediate vicinity of the
Roya-pettah Hospital suffered from it repeatedly during the same period.
The only reasonable and chief difference between my own and other
houses is, that the former was always surrounded by some ním or
margosa trees, while the latter were not.
The margosa tree is also useful as a preventive to fever, as will be
seen from the following quotation : —
The " T h e a i r p a s s i n g t h r o u g h n í m t r e e s i s t h o u g h t t o b e h i g h l y b e n e f i c i a l
to health, and hence the practice among the natives of planting
ním
trees
near their dwelling houses. Many Europeans even believe in this, specially
in the North-Western Provinces and Oude, and frequently cite villages
surrounded with ním trees as proverbially free from fever, while adjoining
villages have suffered severely." ( Preliminary List of the Economic Products
of India, by Dr. George Watt, M.B., C.M., F.L.S., Part V, pp. 219 and 220.)
It is clear from what I have explained above that the ním or
margosa tree is not only very useful and important for medicinal
purposes, but also from a sanitary point of view, and deserves, therefore
the greatest attention of both the public and the medical profession.
If possible, this tree alone ought to be selected for avenues, particularly
in cities, towns and villages, and the people should be encouraged to
plant it around or near their dwelling houses.
o