Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/649

of the stomach, dyspepsia, vomiting, pain in the liver or womb, induration of the uterus, amenorrhœa, calculi, and nocturnal spermatic discharges.

Ainslie (ii., 170) says : "Kull-pashie is the Tamool name given to a dried pale-coloured rock moss, which the Vytians [Vaidyas] suppose to possess a peculiar cooling quality, and prepare with it a liniment for the head." (Pharmacogr. Ind. III. 627-628).

" Some years since it attracted considerable attertion as a diuretic, for which purpose it was first boiled in water, then beaten into a pulp or bruised in a mortar, and placed as a poultice over the renal and lumbar regions. Its efficacy in dropsical affections was attested by Dr. Stevenson, of H. M. 13th Dragoons (Calcutta Med. Phys. Trans., vol. v. p. 430), Dr. W. H. Radford (Mad. Med. Journ. 1839, vol. i. p. 18), and others (Ibid. 1843, vol. v. p. 389). According to these authorities the application of the lichen poultice was followed by marked diuresis ; and dropsical cases which had resisted ordinary means, improved or recovered under its use. Dr. S. Rogers (Ibid. vol. i. p. 18), however, states that he tried it extensively at the Madras Native Infirmary, and that in every instance he failed to observe that it produced the least effect upon the kidneys. To test its alleged efficacy, it should be tried in a series of cases simultaneously with another series treated with an ordinary linseed or rice poultice ; and the probability is that the continuous application of warmth and moisture by their means respectively would be found nearly equal." (Pharm. of India p. 260.)