CONVOLVULUS SCAMMONIA 
. 15 
instance, but becoming darker by exposure ; a thin fra - 
ement is somewhat d - iti bes : 
reduced to powder, the powder being of an ash gray colour; sp. gr. 1.2. ips acre i Aah fess very brittle, easily 
on, on, a. old cheese, and the taste is slightly bitter, becoming acrid : seen spastic 
e composition of two specimens, according to Christi ; 
? g ison, was Resin 81. 
1.0 and 0.0. Fibre and sand, 3.5 and 3.2. Water 7.7 and 7.2. It is called a G : act 88.0. Gum 6.0 and 8.0. Starch 
small quantity. um resin, but the gum is in exceedingly 
Formerly the drug was divided into two ki 
nds, Aleppo a bie as : 
Aleppo scammony corresponded to the virgin, not DC Lwee ore esi then existed between them. 
the city of Aleppo became a depot for it. Hasselquist says (as ae 4 a one at described. It was so called because 
from Marach, where resides a Pasha, four days’ journey from Aleppo ie th oe ots Plantes Usu.), the best “comes 
Aleppo in small skins, whence it is sent to London and Marseilles. : It was ia ego lp mc ane epip eal 
but it does not come now; the Arabs are in the habit of plundering the carri yal apapeece ene mda, Aa 
the pana from which it is obtained, in the valleys between Seek aad fm Cc ea a ea accom 
e Smyrna scammony has always been re i . Pesaed 
: garded as inferior; by : : 
century, ie een ioe cribe Rei cices cheap ae comanont,, heavier, oo ‘et —_— , in the early part of the eighteenth 
in powder, and whitening less the liquor in which dissolved This sc estas ae eS eset ae add 
derived from Notalia, but sent to Smyrna, hence the name Tf tng b renin pina regione apne one 
the Periploca secammone, Lin.; but this is not proved. In Mesie ABE supposed to be derived from a different plant, 
the natural exudation, were practised, as, for instance, by ex sae os a ee ee 
and stems, and then inspissating them. The ihc in ne ig sis Be Oi AN ae ti ip ata 
ence in the properties of it, when the above distinction il preparing the article may account for the differ- 
iad factitions. prevailed. ‘The specimens which I have seen were in half 
The distinction in com 
: ; merce between Aleppo and S 
sither comes in the virgin state, or is 20 es. a myrna scammony, has now been abandoned. The article 
most worthless trash i Se ed; this is done in Smyrna di : 
rash is now thrown into the market. Th : yrna, according to a tariff of prices; and the 
pulse, sand, bone-black and tragacanth. The £0} orti : of pees zis ee some —s 
Mee ely per donk This kind comes in cak proportion of resin in the specimens I have examined, varies fro | 
Sap-sago cheese, to shining leaden black, and li a eee yee Seer ah de> alee mln ap Sows of 
: ; ? r 1 
esther . the Biede fi be cheese hs Se on a eee a me gum colour. Some specimens can hardly be 
ether the scammony of Di at it was communicated artificiall 
for supposin y of Dioscorides, and that of th i : . iheially. t has been 
sing that they are not. I e present time, are identical. There i 
a . It has been stated by Sibth oe 
, ee ee : y Sibthorp, that the plant described, i 
Lindley is of opinion t osus; upon what ground, howe ee ee 7 ee 
pinion that the mod 5; ver, as remarked by Lindley, d 
Dioscorides, j ern and ancient plants were of t : ee 
tion from a ~ Shape Aldine edition of 1499 be accepted os pel antes; fie ae 
: Tee , icable to the modern pl 
“2 Saag andi in atin, given by Matthiolus, h die! 4 see plant. The transla- 
garding them. Di : , has a like signification. Th 
Mysia; he w - Dhoscorides gives a clear descripti ere are other reasons, however 
es! as a traveller, and familiar wi escription of the drug, and states th 
Dis eiticis in , and familiar with the countri : g; es that the best comes from 
e is preferable to that of Syri untries and their products around him ; 
(Euphorbia) a at of Syria and Judea, which : im; he therefore says, that 
bus (lenti , which was liable to adulterati i ii ms 
“esa oro (/entil) farina. The plant, th : ion with the juice of the tithymal 
en found in G e plant, then, was a native of Asia Mi had hr ymalus 
from the earli reece and the neighbouring i ia Minor, of which Mysia is a 
rliest record. J] ghbouring islands, and it has been k as wash ee 
- ayethag A Siecle abmaiien of Bivses , een known to exist in Syria and Palesti 
ce clearly is, that th irect proof that another pl is . one 
; —— plant produced it in th : a 
Supply has arisen from causes b oom : ae known, has always produced it; and that the ha oe Soe vigioons 
- Scammony is a purgative = if ich trade is ordinarily regulated. ee 
ary, Now more in combination - "ig tee te kind ; formerly given in the conserve of the quince 
; phisticated as it is, can hardly be of any value. Je ys ies 
PLate LXIT— r a oer, ANd fru 
-—Represents the plant in lower, the expanded flowe d fruit 
yi 3 Z e 
