Rupya,

Tάra.

Pure silver, according to Sanskrit writers,should be soft, white, brilliant and ductile. It should not be discoloured by fire. Impure silver, that is, silver mixed with other metals, is discoloured by fire, of a reddish or yellowish colour, and not ductile. Silver is purified in the same way as gold. It is converted into a black oxide by thin silver leaves being mixed with twice their weight of cinnabar, and heated in the subliming apparatus, called Urddhapάtana yantra. This process is repeated fourteen times. The resulting compound is a fine greyish black powder with minute shining white particles intermixed with it. On chemical analysis it is found to consist of the black oxide of silver. The properties of silver thus prepared are said to be allied to those of gold but somewhat inferior. It is generally used in combination with other metals, such as gold, iron, etc. Dose, grains one to two. The following is an example of a complex prescription containing silver.

* Makaradhvaja is regarded as a preparation of gold, which is supposed to be the active principle of the medicine. The gold used in its preparation however remains below, and the mercury and sulphur only are sublimed in the form of red sulphide. as in the preparation of mercury called Rasasindura. Properly speaking, therefore, it is but a preparation of mercury, although the gold may possibly exercise some catalytic influence during the process of sublimation. some physicians use the preparation called Sadgunabalijarita rasasindura (see page 36) under the name of Makaradhvaja.

Vrihat vάta gajankusa.1 Take of mercury, prepared talc iron, gold, copper and silver, orpiment, sulphur, ginger, coriander, root of Sida cordifolia (balά), bark of Myrica sapida (katphala), Rhus succedanea (sringi), aconite, long pepper, black pepper, and borax, each one part, chebulic myrobalans, two parts, powder, mix and rub with the juice of Sphaeranthus mollis ( mundi ) and Vitex Negundo (nirgundi) for one day. Divide the mass into four grain-pills. They are said to be useful in various nervous diseases. Silver enters into the composition of several other remedies in common use, such as the Yogarάja (see silάjatu), Jayamangala rasa (see gold) etc.