Practical observations on the use of the Indian bael or bela in dysentery, diarrhœa, &c / by a late member of the profession, Bengal presidency.

Date:
[1858?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical observations on the use of the Indian bael or bela in dysentery, diarrhœa, &c / by a late member of the profession, Bengal presidency. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    brought before the Medical Profession. Many physicians and surgeons of high standing have since prescribed it, and in almost every instance with the most perfect success ; and al¬ though at present not generally known, I feel certain ere long its use will becomfe universal; and such is my confidence in it, that, by its general adoption, I am fully persuaded it will ex¬ ercise a great power over these diseases, and that ultimately they will become more rare and even of a milder form. Botanical descriptions of the tree which yields the Bael fruit will be found in the works of Ainslie, Persoon, Koxburgh, Sir W. Jones, Bindley, Royle, and others, who also remark upon its medical effects. It is the JEyle, or Cratceva Marmelos of Linnaeus, and al¬ though commonly termed the Bengal Quince the name is in¬ correct, as it is one of the Aurantiacece or, Orange tribe ; and Lindley says, in speaking of it, that the fruit a little unripe is given with great advantage in Diarrhoea and Dysentrey. See Lindley’s Vegetable Kingdom, Order clxx. A full botanical account of it is given also in the Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta, vol. 1, p. 130. It grows abundantly in the country around Bengal and other parts of India, where the juice of the unripe fruit is the part used for Dysentery ; but as we cannot here obtain the fresh juice, the whole of the fruit is dried and exported to Kngland, and from the dried fruit is prepared the medical decoction. The examination of the Bael chemically shews it to contain tannin, either pure or in combination, a large amount of a peculiar mucilage, a concrete essential oil, and an aromatic as well as a bitter principle, and in one or other of these there appears to exist either a sedative or narcotic property. The smell and taste of the decoction are aromatic and agreeable, slightly bitter and astringent, gummy and mucilaginous, some¬ thing like a mixture of a decoction of quince and pomegranate, but bearing an aroma peculiar to itself. It possesses, however,