moniac. Mould the lump in the form of a lozenge and let it dry. Apply to it asafoetida all round, and place it in an apparatus called Damaru (see Plate II.). Here, under the influence of fire, mercury will "fly up" and stick to the concave part of the covering vessel. That mercury is supposed to be perfectly pure. The next step in the preparation of its Bhasma is to take equal parts of dry ginger, black pepper, long pepper, carbonate of potash, barilla, "the five salts" (bay salt, table salt, Samber salt, black salt, and Bida salt), garlic, sal-ammoniac, bark of the horse-radish tree (Shigru), and mercury ; powder together the dry ingredients first and then add the mercury, and thoroughly mix them together, triturating it for a whole day and night in Kanjika, or in lemon juice in Taptakhalva (see Plate V.). This process is called "Mukhakarana," which means literally the formation of a mouth ; for mercury is then able to absorb any purified mineral sought to be blended with it. But it is not supposed to have acquired full strength until it is able to "imbibe" an equal, or double, treble, or even quadruple its quantity of prepared sulphur. Finally, triturate the purified mercury in betel-leaf juice, scoop out the interior of Karkoti
