90
MATERIA MEDICA
thick. The bark is of a grey or deep-grey color internally, slightly
demulcent and bitterish in taste, and is covered externally with a thin
epidermis, which is greenish-brown and not scaly, but rough from
numerous and small granular elevations. The bark is studded with
"garnet-looking grains" of a reddish-yellow color and "apparently
of a resinous nature." The grains can be easily separated from other
parts of the bark by reducing the latter to a coarse powder and passing
it through muslin. Most of the grains remain on the cloth and are very
easily separated by winnowing or by the fingers. The weight of the
grains is more than all other parts of the bark if it is from a young
plant, but somewhat less if it is the produce of an old tree. With the
exception of the color, they bear the greatest resemblance to the rolong
of wheat in their outline and appearance, but are generally twice the
size, particularly if they are from the bark of a young plant. When
the bark is fresh, the grains are much paler or almost white in their
color, and also much larger and more or less round.
The bark from Quilon is in small and irregular pieces, varying in
length and breadth from 3 to 5 and 2 to 3 inches, respectively, and
in thickness from 2 to 5 lines. In all other characters it is quite
identical with the bark from the Annamullay forests. Judging from
the thickness of the bark from the latter place, which is fully one inch
thick, it must have been from a very large and old tree, and that from
the former locality (Quilon), which is only five lines in thickness, from
a comparatively very young and small plant. I have not, however,
found any distinct difference between the medical properties of the
barks.
With regard to the therapeutic uses of the resin of A . Malabarica,
its first variety, if fresh, has a very remarkable control over dysentery
and diarrhœa as though it possesses some specific action over the
mucous coat of the large and small intestines, and therefore deserves
some special attention of the profession. In some ordinary cases of
acute dysentery and diarrhœa two or three doses of the resin in the
form of emulsion with the mucilage of gum acacia, and with from 5 to
10 minims of Tinctura opü in each dose were sufficient to nip the
diseases in the bud. There were no more motions, tormina or tenesmus
after the second or third dose for 10 or 12 hours, and when the bowels
did begin to move again after this period, the evacuations were always
healthier and soon became natural without further treatment. In more
severe cases, however, the medicine had to be repeated three or four
times in the 24 hours and continued for two or three days before the
cure was effected. In still more severe or serious and complicated
cases, it was necessary to resort to some other medicines, including
astringent enemata, &c., to assist the resin according to the condition
and symptoms of each individual case. Matti-pál is also useful in
gonorrhœa and gleet, and to the same extent as the Copaiba and
Gurj un -bal sam. *
Some native practitioners speak highly of the bark of A. mal abar i ca
as a remedy in dysentery, but I have lately tried it in several cases and
* I have omitted in this article several details concerning the preparation and adminis--
tration of the resin containing, as the author says, about 80 per cent. of impurities. The
results of experimenting with such an impure article are consequently valueless. The
resin is very little used internally.—D. H.