6 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 



us of the fact that the native dictionaries interpret them as gyu "tur- 

 quois." While I have encountered a great number of turquoises with 

 white and black veins and streaks, I have never seen any with a red 

 tinge.^ This classification of turquoises is contained in the ancient 

 Tibetan medical work known under the abbreviated title "The Four 

 Tantra" ^ (rgyud Mi, Peking edition, Vol. II, fol. 145 b). The literary- 

 history of this interesting work remains to be made out.^ Originally 

 based on a standard Sanskrit work translated into Tibetan in the 

 middle of the eighth century, it passed through the hands of several 

 distinguished Tibetan physicians who revised and increased the work 

 considerably. It contains not only information on Indian anatomy'-, 

 pharmacology and therapeutics, but also valuable material with respect 

 to the natural products of Tibet and Mongolia. The manifold sub- 

 sequent interpolations render the utilization of these notes for historical 

 research exceedingly difficult when the question arises as to the time 

 to which they must be referred. A literal translation of the notice 

 regarding turquois runs as follows: 



"The turquois, in general, represents one species with two varieties, 

 — that of best quality and the common one. Of the former there are 

 two kinds, the one blue and white, of great lustre, called drug dkar; the 

 other blue and red, of great lustre and polished, called drug dmar. 

 There is, thirdly, a turquois of superior quality excelling the others in 

 splendor, known as the turquois shy ad, 'beauty.' The common ones 

 are 'the intermediate turquois resembling the drug dmar,' and 'the 

 blue turquois resembling the drug dkar.' There are, further, the Indian 

 turquoises originating abroad, and others. They entirely remove poison 

 and heat of the liver. Substances belonging to the class of turquois and 

 rock-crystal are so-called elements not fusible." * 



If it could be proved with certainty that this note in the present 

 tenor was already contained in the Sanskrit text or in the Tibetan version 

 of the eighth century, it would be of a certain value in showing that at 

 that comparatively early date turquoises were known in India, perhaps 

 also traded from India into Tibet and then played a role in the phar- 

 macopoea of both countries. But such evidence could be established 

 only on the ground of an ancient edition preserving the original status 



* Dr. Joseph E. Pogue informs me that the iron-oxide matrix in turquois from a 

 number of locaUties is reddish. 



"See Heinrich Laufer, Beitrage zur Kenntnis der tibetischen Medicin, p. 12 

 (Berlin, 1899). 



' The brief notes given by Mr. Walsh {Journal Royal Asiatic Society, 1910, 

 p. 12 1 8) are not yet satisfactory and far from being exhaustive. 



* In opposition to the four metals, gold, silver, copper and iron, enumerated 

 shortly before this passage, which are designated as "fusible elements." 



