folk medicine (incorporating Ayurvedic and sometimes also homeopathic elements) of the Indian state of Sikkim on the southeastern edge of the Tibetan plateau. After unspecified "proper curing" aimed at "mitigation of the virulent poison" the drug prepared from the tuberous root is much used as an analgesic for the relief of chronic pain. Other properties attributed to the plant are those of being sudorific, diuretic, expectorant and antipyretic, while diseases and conditions in the treatment of which it has been employed include diabetes mellitus, asthma, ear infections, nasal infections, leprosy, paralysis and arthritis. Rai and Sharma note also that: The root is also used as an antidote to hartal, believed to be a lethal poison of local origin.Medicinal Plants of the Sikkim Himalaya The word rendered here as hartal is referable to the Hindi word हरताल (= harataal), having the same spelling in Devanagari as the Nepali word haratāla - both of which are archaic designations for minerals containing the poisonous element arsenic - particularly orpiment (i.e. naturally-occurring arsenic trisulphide) and its associated realgar (tetraarsenic tetrasulfide). Regarding the local availability of ores of arsenic, the arsenical minerals arsenopyrite and jordanite are to be found in Sikkim in the Rangpo polymetallic deposit (Bhotang Mines) of Pakyong district, East Sikkim. A local need in Sikkim for a (perceived) antidote to poisoning by arsenic compounds may be explained by the frequent use of such compounds in combination with herbal medicines (believed to mitigate their toxicity) in the alchemical Ayurvedic practice known as Rasashastra. Folk belief in relation to altitude sickness There is an (erroneous) belief in the folklore of Sikkim that the scent of the flowers of the upland species A. ferox is responsible for the incidence of altitude sickness in travellers normally inhabiting lowland areas who visit highland areas of the province. Medicine has established beyond doubt that altitude sickness is caused by altitude-related oxygen deprivation, centering around the alveolar gas equation. However, given the extreme toxicity of Aconitum ferox, it is not inconceivable that proximity to large numbers of flowering plants of the species might cause, not altitude sickness, but illness of some sort. Toxicity arising from the mere scent of the flowers is most unlikely, but inhalation of large quantities of the undoubtedly toxic pollen could provide a plausible mechanism for causing illness in travellers to areas where the species is especially plentiful - Jyothi et al. note that the