142 UMBELDIFERZ. 
of the Greeks of hisday. In the Rudens of Plautus (B. C. 920) — 
the scene of which is near Cyrene, frequent allusion is made to 
the growth of Laserpitium there, and the preparation and export 
obtainable in their time. Pliny relates that a single plant w 
presented to the Emperor Neroas a curiosity. ‘The gum resi 
of I’. alliacea is the Hing of the natives of India, the other 
kind being seldom used by them. In Sanskrit it is called 
Hingu, and is said to be so called from its killing er over- 
powering all other odours. Inthe Nighantas it bears various 
synonyms, amongst which may be mentioned Balhika, ‘‘ coming 
from Balkh”; Ramatha, Bh tita-ndsana, “destroying demons”; 
and Sula-ndsana, “ removing pain in the stomach” ; it is 
scribed as hot, digestive, appetizing, pungent; a remedy f 
phlegm, rheumatism, griping, flatulence, diseases of the belly, 2 
satiety and worms. It increases the secretion of bile. 
Hindu medical writers direct it to be fried before being u 
It is in great repute as a condiment among vegetarians, also 
an antispasmodic in nervous affections; taken daily it 
thought to ward off attacks of malarial fever. 
Asafoetida must have been used in India from a very rem 
period, as the earliest Sanskrit writers mention it. 
The plant is called Jatuka on Jaétuka, a word derived f£ 
Jatu, “ gum or lac’’; it is described as a fragrant plant. 0 
the Mahometan writers on Materia Medica, Ibn Sina men- 
tions two kinds of Asafoetida—tyis (good) and muntin (fetid! 
but gives no description of them. Ali Istakhri; who also 
lived in the 10th century, states that the drag is produced 
abundantly in the desert between Sistan and Makran, and is_ 
much used by the people as a condiment. The geographer 
Edrisi, who wrote about the middle of the 12th century, asserts 
_ that Asafcetida, called in Arabic Hiltit, is collected largely it 
Western Afghanistan, Haji Zein the druggist, in the 
