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INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS.


is used under the name of mutel as an application to burns and rheumatic swellings ; sometimes black-pepper is added to it. ' In the Thana Gazetteer a somewhat different process of preparing mutel (? muthel) oil is given. " To make muthel, dried kernels are cut into thick pieces and boiled in water. The pieces are then crushed in water and the whole boiled again over a slow fire, when the oil rises to the surface and is skimmed off."

Cocoanut oil is said to promote the growth of hair ; " hence it is much used as a local application in alopecia and in loss of hair after fevers and debilitating diseases." " The oil is given in plethora and as a vermifuge in Jamaica. It is given while fasting, warmed and with a little sugar, in flux. An emulsion of the oil and kernel is prescribed in coughs and pulmonary diseases generally. Pound the kernel with water, place it to settle, and skim off the cream. This is preferable to the expressed oil."

" Cocoa-nut oil was proposed by the late Dr. Theophilus Thompson (Proceed of Royal Society, 1854, Pt. III., p. 41) as a substitute for cod-liver oil, and in this character it has been favourably noticed by Dr. J. H, Warren (Boston Med. and Surg. Journ., Vol. III., p. 377) and others. The substance used in these cases was not the ordinary commercial oil, but the oleine obtained by pressure from the crude oil (in the solid state it is met with in England), refined by being treated with alkalies, and then repeatedly washed with distilled water. In his Lettsomian Lectures, Dr. Thompson gives the result of his treatment with this agent in 53 cases of phthisis. Of the first 30, 19 were much benefited, in 5 the disease remained stationary, and in the remaining 6 the disease continued to advance. Of the second 23 . 15 were materially benefited, 3 remaining stationary, and 5 became worse. Dr. Garrod (Brit, and For. Med. Chir. Rev., Jan., 1856) has shown that it exercises a marked influence, almost equal to cod-liver oil, in increasing the weight of the body. The great advantage of its employment experienced by Dr. Thompson, Dr. Garrod, and also by the Editor, who instituted some trials with it, is, that under its