t 
ot a ORD. VI. Umbellate. FERULA ASAFQETIDA. 
for ® this purpose. First the firm earth which encompasses the root; 
is rendered light by digging, and part of it cleared away, so as to 
leavé a portion of the wpper part of the root above the ground; 
the leaves ‘and stalk are’ then twisted off and used with other 
vegetables fora‘covering to screen it from the sun, and upon this 
covering a stone is placed to prevent the winds from blowing jit 
down; in this state the root is left for forty days, after which the 
covering is removed, and the top of the root cut off transversely; 
it is then screened again from the sun forforty-eight hours, which 
is thought a sufficient time for the juice to exude upon the wound- 
ed surface of the root, when the juice is scraped off by a proper 
instrument, and exposed to the sun to harden: this being done, 2 
second transverse section of the root-is made, but no thicker than 
is necessary to remove the remaining superficial concretions which 
would otherwise obstruct the farther effusion of fresh juice; the 
screening is:‘then again employed for forty-eight hours, and the 
juice obtained:a second time, as before mentioned: In this way 
_ the Asafcetida is eight times repeatedly collected from each root; 
observing, however; that after every third section, the root is 
always suffered to remain unmolested for eight or ten days, in 
order that it may recover a sufficient stock of juice: Thus, to 
exhaust one root of its Juice, computing from the first’ time of 
collecting it to the last, a period of nearly six weeks is required; 
‘ when the root is abandoned, and soon perishes. 3 
The whole of this business is conducted by the peasants who 
live in the neighbourhood of the mountains where the drug is 
procured; and as they collect the juice from a number of roots at 
the same time, and expose it in one common place to harden, the 
sun soon gives it that consistence and appearance in whieh it is 
imported into Europe. 
Asafoetida has a bitter, acrid, pungent taste, ont is well known 
by its peculiar nauseous fetid smell, the strength of which is the 
surest test of its goodness; this odour is extremely volatile, and of 
° 
* Radix quadriennié minor parum lactescit & nunquam seca‘ur. 
