Papaw Tree.
Carica Papaya, Linn.
Popaiyáh (Hind.), Popáí (Duk.), Papaiyá (Beng.), Pappáyi (Tam.), Boppáyí (Tel., Can.), Pappáya (Mal.), Pópayá (Mah.), Papáyi (Guz.), Pepolká (Cing.), Pimbo-si (Burm.), Papaya (Malay).
295. The fresh milky juice of the Papaw has been successfully employed in the treatment of Worms, especially the common Round Worm or Lumbricus. The juice should be collected as it flows out from incisions made in the unripe fruit; a table-spoonful suffices for a dose for an adult. It should, whilst quite fresh, be mixed with an equal quantity of honey and two ounces of boiling water, and the whole well stirred. When cool, this should be taken as a draught, and two hours subsequently, one ounce of Castor Oil, with half a table-spoonful of Lime Juice. This process should be repeated two days in succession. Half the above dose is sufficient for a child between three and seven years old, and a third, or about a teaspoonful, for a child under three years of age. Should colic follow its use, draughts of sugar and water, or sugar and milk, should be freely given. In Ringworm the unripe Papaw fruit, cut in slices and rubbed on the spots, is said by Dr. H. H. Goodeve to be a very simple and efficient remedy.
296. In Enlargements of the Spleen and Liver Mr. Evers (Indian Med. Gazette, February 1875) reports highly of the value of the milky juice of the unripe Papaw fruit. Of sixty cases treated with it, thirty-nine were cured. He administered it as follows: About a teaspoonful of the fresh juice was thoroughly mixed with an equal quantity of sugar, and the mass made into three boluses, one to be taken morning, noon, and evening. For children a single drop of the juice with sugar was found sufficient. A poultice of the pulp of the unripe fruit was placed in each case over the enlarged organ; but on this Dr. Evers places little reliance. From 20 to 25 days was the longest period a patient was under treatment. A nutritious and liberal diet to be enforced. It was found notably useful in recent cases. No ill effects—nothing beyond a feeling of heat in the stomach—followed its use. Should there be gastric or intestinal irritation, a small dose of Opium or Henbane may be combined with the juice.
296b.
Pedalium Murex.
Linn.
Bará-ghókrú (Hind., Dak., Beng.), Ánai-nerunji, Peru-neranji (Tam.), Enuga-palléru-mullu, Káítu-nerinjil (Tel.), Ána-nerinnil, Káttu-nerinnil (Mal.), Ánne-galu-gidá (Can.), Hattí-charátté (Mah.), Motte-ghókru (Guz.), Ati-naranchi (Cing.), Sulegí (Burm.).
297. This small plant, with its yellow flowers and sharp-spined seed vessel, exhaling when bruised the odour of musk, is common on dry sandy localities, especially on the seaboard of most parts of Southern India. The fresh leaves and stems briskly agitated in cold water convert it into a thick mucilage, nearly of the consistency of the white of a raw egg, inodorous and tasteless. An infusion thus prepared is a highly prized remedy among the people of Southern India in Gonorrhœa. For this purpose half a pint of the above infusion is taken every morning for ten days successively; and under its use great relief to the scalding on the passage of urine is afforded, and a cure in many cases effected. It seems well worthy of further trial. One of its effects, indeed its principal one, is greatly to increase the flow of urine; hence it might prove useful in some forms of Dropsy. Water rendered mucilaginous by this plant soon regains its original fluidity; hence the infusion should be freshly prepared each time it is to be administered.