ASAI'CKTIDA FKRtJLA. 1041

£

^ a ^ p ? srT 1 °N.—Opoponax lias been analyzed by Pelletier [Bull, delv - 49 ). jj e found the constituents to be—

Resin. 420

Gum. 33-4

Starch . 42

Extractive . 1-6

Wax.. 0-3

Malic acid . ' 2.8

Lignin . 9-8

Volatile oil, trace of caoutchouc, and loss.. 5'9

Opoponax. lOO'O

The TT&eddish yellow ; fusible at 122® F. Soluble in alkalies, alcohol, and ether.

1,1 l he f o a Ule s °lution is reddish : the resin is precipitated from it, by hydrochloric acid,p rm of yellow flocks. Nitric acid acts feebly on the resin.

Rhta! I r VS ! 0LOGICAL Effects.—S imilar to the other fetid, antispasmodicl h atl t ^ Slns ( see P- 75). It is, perhaps, more allied to ammoniacumI)„ an y other of these substances.

4s t] (e ‘ '“"Opoponax is rarely employed. It is adapted to the same cases°ther gum-resins of this class (see p. 75).

^ er ula A safes' tida, Linn., L. E. D .—The Asafmtida Ferula.

Sex . Syst. Pentandria, Digynia.

^ ^ (Gummi-resina, L. D, —Gummy-resinous exudation, E.)

Or STo Fy.—J t is uncertain at what period asafeetida was first knownCoj )p es ? r ^ed. The difficulty in determining its history arises from thea_s a f Us ! 011 which has existed with respect to the Succus Cyrenaicus andid e By many writers the two substances were considered to be

8 e e * llCa l (see Geoffrey, Tract, de Mat. Med. ii. 609); but this opinionpC S n °w to have been satisfactorily disproved by the discovery of thehiLf. called by the Greeks ai\<ptov, by the Romans laserpitium [Thapsia^Wahi*’ Viviani )> which yields the Cyrenaic juice, and which agreesCj, J* bl y well with the rude figures struck on the Cyrenean coins [Penny^ar v °l- viii. p. 265 ; and Lindley, FI. Med. 52). It would ap-

fr ^Plo W6Ver ’ ^ lat ^ ie Cyrenaic juice becoming scarce, the ancients4s P °>’cd some other substance of similar, though inferior, properties,“ f' 0r Su bstitute, and to both of these they applied the term laser.XX^ ears ”. says Pliny [Hist. Nat. lib. xix. cap. 15, ed. Valp.)Wc au P ant [laserpitium or silphion] has not been found in Cyrenaica ,hiojg the publicans [or farmers] who rent the pastures, finding it^Profitable, destroy it as food for cattle. One stalk only, found inRieet w ,S ’ Was sent to emperor Nero. We may know when cattleha Ve lt ^ y° un g shoots of it, by the sleeping of the sheep when theyonly , eater > it, and the sneezing of the goats. For a long time past thei \l(> ( |i a a ' Ser brought to us is that which is produced abundantly in Persia ,

’ an d Armenia ; but it is far inferior to the Cyrenaic .”he eri A is not at all improbable that the laser of Persia may have*' •iGjwf asa fcetida. The word “ asafoetida” says Murray [App. Med.of ' se ems to have been introduced' by the Monks into the schoolhe, as ernum -” But it appears to have been of oriental origin, and may-My re . , s °nie have suspected, derived from the word laser. Nicolaus" Sl cus [Antidotarius, cap. xxvii. p. 365, quoted by Alston, Mat.

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