Lavana.

Susruta describes the following varieties of salts, viz., 1 Sάindhava, 2 Sάmudra, 3 Vit or Vid, 4 Sauvarchala, 5 Romaka, 6 Audbhida, 7 Gutikά, 8 Pάnsuja, also called Ushasuta. The first five in the above list generally pass by the name of pancha lavana or the five salts, and are often used in combination. The other varieties are rarely used in medicine.

Saindhava literally means produced in Sinde, or the country along the Indus. The term is applied to rock salt which is regarded as the best of salts. Three varieties of rock salt are recognized, viz., white, red and crystalline. The pure white crystalline salt is preferred for medicinal use. For alimentary purposes also, rock salt is considered superior to the other varieties. It is regarded as digestive, appetizing, sweet and agreeable, and is much used in dyspepsia and other abdominal diseases.

Sάmudra literally means produced from the sea. The term is applied to sun-dried sea-salt, manufactured in the Madras Presidency. It is called karkach in the vernacular. Orthodox natives, who consider common salt as impure from the circumstance of its having undergone the process of boiling, and who take only rock salt, substitute karkach for rock salt, if the latter is not available. Sun-drir 1 sea-salt is described as somewhat bitter and laxative. In other respects its properties are said to resemble those of rock salt.

Vit lavana occurs in dark red shining granules some-what resembling coarsely powdered lac in appearance. It has a mild, saline and somewhat nauseous taste. Dr. Fleming says "that the following process for making this salt was communicated by a native druggist to Mr. Turnbull at Mirzapore and was actually performed in his presence. Fifty six pounds of sambar salt are mixed with twenty ounces of dried aonlάs (emblic myrobalans.) One fourth of these materials is put into a round earthen pot with a narrow mouth, which is put in a fire-place made of clay. The fireplace has a hole at the bottom for introducing the firewood. After the fire has been lighted about an hour, and the materials, in the pot, appear to be heated, the rest of the materials is added by degrees. The whole is then exposed to a strong red heat for about six hours. The fire is then allowed to die away, and the pot to cool; which upon being broken is found to contain about forty-eight pounds of calanemuc or bitlaban."*

Vit lavana, besides possessing the properties of salts in general, is said to be carminative and stomachic, and to be useful in enlarged spleen, dyspepsia, indigestion, bowel complaints, etc.

Sauvarchala called sonchal or kάlάnimak in Hindustani is said to be aromatic, agreeable and digestive, and useful in the same sort of cases as vitlavana. It is described in the Report on Punjab Products as "a dark colored salt said to be made by dissolving common salt in a solution of "sajimάti" (crude soda) and evaporating it; this salt contains chloride of sodium, sulphate of soda, caustic soda and a little sulphate of sodium, but no carbonate of soda." Sonchal salt is not available in the drug shops of Calcutta. Some Bengali physicians give this name to a crystalline form of rock salt, but up-country physicians always translate sauvarchala as sonchal or kάlάnimak. The latter interpretation appears also to obtain in the Punjab where a specimen of sonchal salt from Ram Sing, a noted druggist, is said in the Report on Punjab Products, "to be a salt of the same kind as kάlάnimak"

Romaka, also called

Sάkambari, is the salt produced from the Sambar Lake near Ajmere. The name romaka is said to be derived from a river called Ruma. It is obtained by the evaporation of salt water in the shape of clear rhomboidal crystals. It has a pungent taste, and is considered laxative and diuretic, in addition to possessing the other properties of salts. It is said to be the best and purest of evaporated salts.

Audbhid, that is, produced of itself from the earth, is the name applied to a salt produced as an efflorescence on reh lands. The salt is called reha or kalar in the vernacular. It consists principally of sulphate of soda with a little chloride of sodium, and is described as alkaline, bitter, pungent and nauseating. It is said to be so abundant in some parts of the Punjab as to render the soil quite barren. Some physicians or rather writers substitute this article for sambar salt in the composition of pancha lavana or the five salts.

Asiatic Researches Vol. XI. Page 192.

Gutikά. This salt, mentioned by Susruta and some later writers, cannot be identified at present. In the treatise called Dravyaguna by Chakra Datta, his commentator Siva Dass says that the name gutika is derived from the circumstance of the salt assuming a hard, granular or nodular shape from boiling. So that it is a sort of boiled salt. Susruta describes it as stomachic digestive and laxative.

Pάnsuja or Ushasnta literally means, salt manufactured from saline earth. Pάngά or common salt, manufactured from earth impregnated with salt water, would come under this head.

Rock salt with warm water, is used as an emetic.1 The different varieties of salt enter into the composition of a great many medicines for dyspepsia, indigestion, enlarged spleen and other tumours in the abdomen. The following are a few illustrations.

Nάrikelakshάra. 2 Take a cocoa-nut fruit full of water, make a hole in it and fill the cocoa-nut with rock salt, that is, dissolve the salt in its water. Then close the opening, cover the nut with a ayer of clay and roast it in a pit of fire. The salt thus roasted is esteemed as a valuable medicine in the form of dyspepsia which is attended with pain, two or three hours after meals. It is given with the addition of long pepper. Dose about a quarter tola.

Bhάskara lavana. 3 Take of karkach salt sixteen tolas, sonchal salt ten tolas, black salt, rock salt, coriander, long pepper, long pepper root, leaves called tejpatra, seeds of Nigella sativa (krishnajiraka), leaves of Pinus Webbiana (talisa patra ), flowers of Mesua ferrea ( nάgakesara ), fruits of Calamus fasciculatus (amlave asa), four totes each, black pepper, cumin seeds and ginger, two tolas each, pomegranate seeds eight totes, cinnamon and cardamoms one tola each, powder, mix and soak seven times in lemon juice. Dose about a drachm with whey or wine, in enlarged spleen and other tumours in the abdomen, dyspepsia, loss of appetite, constipation etc. Rock salt is applied to opacities on the cornea, either singly or in combination with other drugs, as in the following. Take of the seeds of Acacia Lebbek (sirisa), long pepper, black pepper and rock salt in equal parts, rub them together with water, and make into pellets or pencils. These are rubbed on opacities of the cornea.