Class XXIX.]
COLLECTIONS OF PRODUCE—AMERICA.
651
from a few only of the Bazaars of India. They are usedby the natives for a variety of purposes; but though manyof those which are said to be useful as Medicines may notpossess active properties, others are knowu with certaintyto be some of the most powerful and efficient drugs ; andit may also be inferred that there must be many otherspossessed of useful properties, though they are but littleknown in Europe , But independently of their medicinaluses, there are among the various substances many whichare useful as food, or in the arts ; as, for instance, thedifferent Cereal grains and pulses; Starch-yielding Seedsand Boots, Oil-seeds, Gums and Resins, Dyes , &c., as wellas Animal and Mineral bodies. These substances show,at a glance, the resources which the natives of India possess, and have long possessed, for practising many ofthe arts in which they attained, at a very early period, avery high degree of perfection, with apparently veryimperfect means.
The collection is further interesting, both in a literaryand scientific point of view, because most of the sub-stances, which are here gathered into a focus, have theirproperties described in the various works on the MateriaMedica which are at present in use in India . In thoseworks a variety of synonymes are given, with the namesof the same substances as known in the Hindoo, Persian ,and Arabic languages, and very frequently in the Greekalso. The universal knowledge of these productions isaccounted for by the circumstance that the medical workswhich are in use by the Mahomedan Hakims in India aretranslations from the Arabic into Persian , with which hasbeen incorporated information from the writings of theHindoos. The Arabs , at the Court of Haroun-al-Rashid,it is well known, made translations from the Greek authors,such as Dioscorides ; and hence it will be understoodwhy many of the substances, mentioned iu such Persian translations as are now in use in India , have both theArabic and Greek synonymes assigned to them. By meansof this collection we are enabled to examine numerousspecimens of Asiatic natural productions, which are alllabelled with their synonymes; and hence it is frequentlypossible to ascertain the very substances which both theArabs and the Greeks have described, and to which theyassigned an Eastern origin. Thus the Nardtts (Spikenard)of the Greeks may be shown to be the Jatamansi of theHindoos; and Dr. Falconer has identified their Costuswith the Koot or Koost of the Arabs , a product of themountains of Cashmere , which in former times found itsway to Europe , and at present forms an extensive articleof commerce with China. Many of these interestingparallels have been traced out by Dr. Royle, in his Essayon the Antiquity of Hindoo Medicine, as well as in hisIllustrations of Himalayan Botany . He has also beenable to identify some of the plants mentioned in thesacred writings, from their Arabic synonymes, as he hasshown in his paper, The Mustard-tree and the Hyssop ofScripture.
As a complete list of the articles contained in thisinvaluable collection is given in the Illustrated Catalogue(pages 893-907), it is only necessary here to state that itcomprises Nine hundred and nine substances of vegetableorigin, Thirty-two animal products, and Two hundred andtwo bodies derived from the mineral kingdom. To everyspecimen its scientific name and synonymes are appended,and also the locality whence it was obtained. The vege-table substances comprise 193 Roots, 10 Woods, 202 Barks,445 Fruits and Seeds, 12 Galls , and 47 Gums, Resins, andGum-resins. If a collection of all those products whichare but little known were rendered available, under certainrestrictions, to the investigations of the scientific chemist,it would undoubtedly do much to advance our knowledgein organic chemistry, and could not fail to be productiveof material benefits, not only to the science of medicine,but also to the arts.
The Collection of some of the Products and Manufacturesof the State of Maryland (United States , 371, p. 1459),which is contained in an ornamental cabinet made of theprincipal woods of that State, comprises about Eightydifferent substances. The chief of them are ores, chemi-
cals, and woods; and the cabinet itself illustrates the usesto which the woods may be applied. The Jury of Class IV.having also awarded a Medal to this interesting collection,it is to be expected that the various objects exhibited willbe discussed in detail in their Report; but as the Illus-trated Catalogue does not contain a list of them, thefollowing summary will not be regarded as misplaced:—
Minerals.
Anthracite Coal—2 kinds.
Building-sand.
Copper-ore—3 varieties.
Free-stone.
Gold-ore.
Granite—2 varieties.
Iron-ore—8 kinds.
Lead-ore.
Marble—3 varieties.
Soap-stone— Steatite.
Metals.
Copper rods.
Copper sheets—3 kinds.
Pig-iron.
Wrought-iron.
yellow-metal.
Metallic Manufactures*
Iron Nails.
Shots.
Stereotype-plates.
Types.
CnEMiCAL Manufactures.
Alum ( Double sulphate of alumina and potash ).Bichromate of potash.
Blue vitriol ( Sulphate of Copper).
Chloride of lime ( Hypochlorite of Lime).Chrome-yellow ( Chromate of Lead).
Chrome-green ( Chrome-yellow and Prussian-blue ).Copperas ( Proto-sulphate of Iron ).
Epsom-salts (Sulphate of Magnesia).
Glue (Gelatin).
Magnesia.
Magnesia, Carbonate of.
Prussian blue (Sesqui-ferrocyanide of Iron ).
Red lead (Red oxide of Lead).
Saltpetre (Nitrate of Potash).
Soap.
Stearic acid.
White zinc (Oxide of Zinc).
Bricks—3 kinds.
Fire-bricks.
Lutch-bricks.
Vegetable Substances.
1. Woods.
Ash.
Beech.
Cedar.
Cherry.
Hickory.
Holly.
Lime.
Locust.
Maple—2 kinds.
Mulberry.
Oak.
Pine.
Poplar.
Walnut.
2. Cereal Seeds and Meal.
Buckwheat.
Buckwheat-meal.
Indian-corn, yellow and white.
Indian-corn-meal.
Oats.
Rye.
Wheat, white and red.
Wheat-flour.