1042

ELEMENTS OK MATERIA MEDICA.

Med. ii. 438), almost tlie last of the Greek physicians, and " ea ks <>taccording to Sprengel {Hist, de Med. iv. 368) about 1227, a-P- „ saV saaa (ptTica. “ There are two kinds of Assa [i. e. laser, Lat.

Avicenna (lib. 2 ndus , tr. 2 ndus , cap . 53), “ one fetid, the other j o0 tb e d

Botany. Gen. Char. — Margin of the calyx shortly h ve '^ 0 int-Petals ovate, entire, acuminate, with an ascending or incur' eFruit flattened at the back, with a dilated flat border. Merica rj? all d

fruits] with three, dorsal, filifonn ridges, the two lateral obso ^re ilost in the dilated margin. Vittai in the dorsal channels three .^ er —in the commissure four or many. Seed flat. Carpophorusoty s eg-Herbs. Root thick. Stem tall. Leaves supra-decompound, j ater abments usually divided into linear lobes. Umbels of many C-)

often opposite or verticillate. Involucre various. Flowers yen° v

Sp. Char .— Stem terete, simple, cloathed with leafless 0 e d-Leaves radical, pinnatisect; the segments one- or two-p 1Dsinuate ; lobes oblong, obtuse. Involucre none (D. C.) , jDan’ s

Root perennial, tapering, ponderous, increasing to the size o to parm or leg, covered with a blackish-coloured bark, beset nearwith many strong, rigid fibres; its internal substance white? ^ oU g,abounding with a thick, milky juice, which has an excessive y 0 rfetid, alliaceous smell. Stem two or three yards high or m ° xG \ eS D ea rseven inches in circumference at the base, smooth. Radical w a ^attwo feet long. Kaempfer {Anmn. exot. 535) compares their shape^^ j l6of the leaves of Paeonia officinalis; but in colour, and other rc‘ s P ^ p a t,says they resemble Ligusticum Levisticum , or Lovage . lhe/r»thin, reddish-brown, like that of parsnip, only rather larger an(Kaempfer). a fcetid a

Hab .— Persia ; mountains of Chorasan and Laar. The aS atplant, stated by Lieut . Burnes (Travels into Bokhara, ii. 243) to B ^ngan elevation of 7,000 feet, on the Hindoo Koosh, is described pe

an annual. If the description be correct, the plant can scarF. Asafoetida. ^hich »

There is reason to suspect that Ferula Asafoetida is not the only plant species al ?dgum-resin, called asafoetida, is obtained ; but that one, if not more, other P bee’ 1yield it (Lindley, FI. Med. p.45-6, and Bot. Reg. Aug. 1839). Ferula P eT f ,. 3 pd t* 1 ®described by Dr. Hope (Phil. Trans, vol. lxxv.) as the true asafoetida pla ’jj ]C ha u -Edinburgh College has admitted it as being, probably, one source of asafceti ' j|y yi e ‘sent its fruit from Persia as asaftetida (Lindley, FI. Med. 46). That it does per-

asafoetida seems furthermore probable, from the strong smell of that drug, ^ eeS anvades the whole plant (Stephenson and Churchill. Med. Bot. iv. 169; au as afcet’®*Ebermaier, Handb. ii. 55). It is, I think, not unlikely that the tear a . J'^uro-ests- 1 aof the shops are procured from different species. Dr. Royle ( Illustr. 230) s , B ^ a y be aPrangos pabularia was one of the kinds of Silphium of the ancients, anasafoetida plant. . ^ jpe

Extraction. —Asafoetida is obtained by making incisions at & eupper part of the root; the footstalks of the leaves and the h pusi'top of the root being previously removed. Kaempfer divides^.^jj e piness of collecting into four parts: the first begins about the ^ jj,eApril, and consists in digging the earth about the root, rein ^

leaves and fibres, which are afterwards laid over the root coh

from the sun. The second commences on the 25th of May-lector is provided with a sharp knife to cut the root, a broad i t* 0

to scrape off the juice, a cup fixed to his thigh to receive i is

baskets hung over his shoulder; upon a pole. The top oi

is