The Materia Medica of the Hindus, compiled from Sanskrit Medical Works c4.s11.2

c4.s11.2

THIN plates of copper such as can be pierced by thorns are used in medicine. They are purified by being boiled in cow's urine for three hours. Copper is reduced to powder by smearing its thin leaves with a paste of sulphur and lemon juice, beating them into a mass, and exposing to heat in a covered crucible within a sand-bath for twelve hours. The powder thus produced is rubbed with *kánjika* and made into a ball, which is introduced into a tuber of *Amorphophallus campanulatus* (ola), as in a crucible and roasted. This last process is said to render the copper innocuous and prevent it from causing purging and vomiting when taken internally.