286 Dr Brewster on the Natural History 



collection of specimens that has ever been transmitted to 

 Europe. I have received large portions of all the varieties 

 that have yet been found, from the fine opalescent and trans- 

 parent pieces, to the most opaque and coarse masses ; and I 

 have had the satisfaction of taking the specimens with my own 

 hands from joints of the bamboo, that were sent unopened. 

 This collection I owe to George Swinton, Esq., Secretary to 

 the Government at Calcutta, whose liberality and unwearied 

 ardour in the cause of science and the arts is well known to all 

 the public institutions of his native country. 



Along with these specimens, Mr Swinton has sent me also 

 the following observations on Tabasheer, collected from the 

 Sanscrit works on Medicine, by Dr Wilson, the learned secre- 

 tary of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta. 



" Bamboo-manna" (says Dr Wilson) " is known in the Ma- 

 teria Medica of the Hindus by a variety of appellations, imply- 

 ing simply its being the produce of the bamboo, or denomi- 

 nating it from some of its sensible properties, the milk^ sugar, 

 or camphor of bamboos. The name in ordinary use is Ban- 

 sa-rochunu. The ornament of the bamboo, corrupted in the 

 vernacular dialect to Bunslcchan. The name in use amongst 

 the Mahommedans of India is Tabasheer^ an Arabic word, 

 explained by Meninski, liquor^ specie sacchari concretus in 

 arundine Indica majore, et quasi petrefdctus ; in India^ sac- 

 car Bamhu (sugar of the Bamboo,) dicitur, pro quo cineres no- 

 dorum aut radicum vulgo distrahi solent. 



" According to the Sanscrit works on medicine, such as the 

 Bhava Prakas and Raja Nighant, the bunslochun is slightly 

 austere, astringent, and sweetish to the taste. It possesses 

 cooling and demulcent properties, allays thirst and fever, and 

 relieves cough and difficult breathing. It sweetens the hu- 

 mours, and is serviceable in jaundice and leprosy. Its chief 

 virtues, however, and those for which it is mostly esteemed, are 

 supposed to be of a restorative nature, and it is highly ap- 

 prized as an aphrodisiac. 



** In the markets of Calcutta it is found in three states. The 

 best is termed Patnai, being brought from Patna, and is in 

 small compact pieces of a milky-white colour, having the lus- 

 tre of enamel, and being seraitransparent. It is termed NiU 



