Witnessed by: Unani
Boric acid (Sassolite), of the borate mineral family. White, pearly, six-sided scales and flakes, greasy and soft, or a fine white crystalline powder; native range: encrusts the rims of fumaroles, hot springs and volcanic lagoons — the Tuscan soffioni at Sasso Pisano gave the mineral its name; the article of commerce is made from borate ores. Globally recognized as hamiz booraqi in Arabic/Urdu, and boric acid, boracic acid, sassolite in English. The part used is the refined acid. White, glistening, unctuous scales that feel soapy between the fingers, odourless and faintly bitterish, dissolving slowly in cold water and readily in hot.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
BORIC ACID
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- boric acid
- Scientific name
- Sassolite (native boric acid, H₃BO₃)
- Family
- borate mineral
Form
- Part used
- the refined acid
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Unani
- dafe-taffun (antiseptic), qatil-e-jaraseem (germicide), mujaffif (desiccant), habis (a mild astringent to raw surfaces)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- never internally; not on large raw or denuded surfaces, and never on the skin of infants
- Toxicity
- readily absorbed through broken skin and mucous membranes, and cumulative — it has caused vomiting, blue-green diarrhoea, a scarlatiniform rash with desquamation, convulsions and death, most notoriously in infants dusted or fed with it. Its use as a preservative and a nursery powder is abandoned.
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