83. Castor Oil, of various degrees of purity, is met with in most bazaars. The dark brown viscid oil (obtained by boiling, and subsequent expression of the seeds) should be avoided, on account of its acridity. The best kind is clear, of a pale straw colour, and with a slightly nauseous taste. The "cold-drawn expressed oil" should always be used when procurable, as it generally is in most large bazaars. It is an excellent purgative when the object is simply to clear out the bowels. It is especially adapted for children and for women after confinements. The ordinary dose for a child is about a teaspoonful but it may be gradually raised according to the age of the patient, to two table-spoonfuls (one ounce), which is the full dose for an adult. It is best given floating on milk, strong coffee, or Omum water. _In Painful Affections of the Rectum_ Castor Oil in small doses is often of great service, softening the fæces and lubricating the passages without weakening the patient. (_Mr. Curling_.) The same remark applies to _Piles_, or when it is desirable to prevent the patient straining at stool, but, as a general rule, it is inferior to Sulphur, _q. v._ 84. _For Sore Nipples_ nothing, according to Dr. Conant Foster (_Practitioner_, April 1872), is so beneficial as Castor Oil. The nipple should be smeared freely with it each time the child is removed from the breast. Rags or lint are unnecessary and injurious. 85. +The leaves of the Castor Oil plant+ deserve notice _as a means of increasing the secretion of Milk_. For this purpose a decoction is made by boiling a large handful of the plant in six or eight pints of water. With this the breasts are bathed for a quarter of an hour, and then the boiled leaves, in the form of a poultice, spread over them. In a few hours the effects of the application are manifest. A simpler mode of application, said to be equally effectual, consists in applying layers of the fresh leaves, simply warmed before a fire, over the breasts. 86. +Catechu.+ An extract from the heart-wood of Acacia, Catechu, _Willd._ Kát, Kath (_Hind._, _Punj._), Kát (_Beng._), Kathah (_Duk._), Khairah, Kuth (_Kash._), Káshu, Kátta-kámbu (_Tam._), Kánchu (_Tel._), Kátta (_Mal._), Káchu (_Can._), Kath-tho (_Guz._), Kaipu (_Cing._), Sházi (_Burm._), Gambir or Kachu (_Malay_). 87. Several varieties of Catechu are met with in the bazaars. That best adapted for medical use occurs in the form of masses consisting of layers, occasionally enveloped in rough leaves of a blackish-brown colour, easily fractured, of a very astringent taste.