MASTICHE. 161 



millions of cwt., value £28,000,000; much of this was shipped to 



England. 



Uses — Raisins are an ingredient of Compound Tincture of Car- 

 damoms and of Tincture of Senna. They have no medicinal properties, 

 and are only used for the sake of the saccharine matter they impart.^ 



ANACARDIACE^. 



MASTICHE. 



Mastix, Resina Mastiche ; Mastich ; F. Mastic ; G. Mastix. 



Botanical Origin — Pistacia Lentiscus L., the lentisk, is a dioecious 

 evergreen, mostly found as a shrub a few feet high ; but when allowed 

 to attain its full growth, it slowly acquires the dimensions of a small 

 tree havinor a dense head of foliage. It is a native of the Mediterranean 



shores from Syria to Spain, and is found in Portugal, Morocco and the 

 Canaries, In some parts of Italy it is largely cut for fuel. 



Mastich is collected in the northern part of the island of Scio, which 

 was long regarded as the only region in the world capable of affording 

 it. Experiments made in 1856 by Orphanides^ have proved that 

 excellent mastich might be easily obtained in other islands of the 

 Archipelago, and probably also in Continental Greece. The same 

 hotanist remarks that the trees yielding mastich in Scio are exclu- 



sively male. 



History — Mast 



Ch 



of 



the island of Chio, the modern Scio. • 



Avieenna * described (about the year 1000) two sorts of mastich, the 

 ^hite or Roman (i.e. Mediterranean or Christian), and the dark or 

 ^abatha^an,— the latter probably one of the Eastern forms of the drug 

 mentioned at p. 165. 



Benjamin of Tudela," who visited the island of Scio when travelliug 

 to the East about a.d. 1160-1173, also refers to it yielding maskch, 

 ^'hich in fact has always been one of its most important productions, 

 and from the earliest times intimately connected with its l^istory. 



Mastich was prescribed in the 13th century by the Welsh "Meddy- 

 gon :Myddvai " as an ingredient of ointments. 



In the middle ages the mastich of Scio was held as a monopoly by 

 the Greek emperors, one ofwhom, Michael Paleologus in 1261, permitted 

 the Genoese to settle in the island. His successor Andronicus II. 

 conceded in 1304 the administration of the island to Benedetto Zaccaria, 

 ^ "ch patrician of Genoa and the proprietor of the alum works oi Fokia 



ml!?!-^"'''"'^t «f ttis is very small. On * Heldrcich, Kutzpflan^n GrkcJienlamls, 



the nr!:i.'^"^^^<^i^ raisins in proof spirit in Athen, 1S62. 61. . 



each^fl^"*'^" of 2 oz. to a pmt, wc found » //^^ ^^««'- 1^^- ^^- <=• ^■ 



tT a£'? u""'^ °^ *l»e tinctifre so obtained * Lib. ii. c. 462 , . „ , ,„,„ 



1;™^ by evaporation to drvness 28 » Wright, EarJy Travels m Pak-oUnr, 



grama 



iscid sugary extract. 1848. 77. (Bohn's scries). 



L 



