The dried half-ripe fruit of aegle Marmelos, from Malabar and Coromandel.

Characters. - Fruit roundish, about the size of a large orange, with a hard woody rind. Usually seen in fragments consisting of portions of the hard grey rind and dry adherent red pulp and seeds. The moistened pulp is mucilaginous.

Composition. - Not well ascertained. It contains no appreciable amount of tannin.

Preparation. B.P

Dose.

Extractum Belae Liquidum..................................................

1 fl. dr. to 1/2 fl. oz.

Uses. - Although it contains no tannin it is used in diarrhoea and dysentery. The fresh pulp is sometimes used as a laxative.

Fig. 186. Bael, half the natural size.

Fig. 186. - Bael, half the natural size.

Possibly bael fruit may owe its utility in dysentery to its possessing some action similar to that of cotoine (p. 387).