298 COMPOSIT#. 
Guibourt’s History of Dengs (Vol IIL, 1869, p. 32, et seq.). 
Dr. Falconer maintained that the Aplotaxis was the Costus of 
the ancients; after giving his reasons for holding this opinion, 
he remarks :— 
“It is collected in large quantities and exported to the 
Punjab, whence the larger portion goes down to Bombay, where 
it is shipped for the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and China; a 
portion of it finds its way across the Sutlej and Jumna into 
Hindustan Proper, whence it is taken to Calcutta, and bought 
up there with avidity, under the designation of Patchak, for 
the China market,” . 
Royle, who wrote before Falconer’s discovery of the source 
of Kust, appears to have met with two kinds of Costus, Kust- 
i-talkh and Kust-i-shirin; from his observations on the latter 
article is would seem te have been the Kust of commerce. 
(Illustrations, p. 360:) Dr. Royle’s original specimen of 
Kust-i-talkh has also been examined and found to be the root 
of Aplotaxis. At the present day we meet with only one kind 
of Costus in commerce. Cooke suggests that Kust-i-shirfn is 
probably the young and Kust-i-talkh the old root, but no dis- 
tinction of the kind is known in Bombay, and Haji Zein-el-Attar, 
the author of the [khtidrét (A.D. 1368) states that Kust-i-talkh — 
is a@ Persian name for Indian Costus. Kust-i-shiria is the 
Kust-el-halu of the Arabs and our Orris root. 
With regard to the uses of Costus, Dr. Irving states that 
formerly, when opium was not produced in Rajwarra, this root 
was extensively smoked as a stimulant. He adds that it is said 
to be narcotic when thus used, and that formerly great quanti- 
ties went to China for smoking purposes, At the present time 
it is chiefly used as a perfume, and to ‘protect bales of cloth 
from insects. In the Punjab it is applied-in powder to ulcers, 
for worms in wounds, &c., and for toothache ; it is also given” 
in rheumatism. A summary of the uses of this drug is given by 
Baden Powell in his Punjab Productsin the following terms :— 
“‘ 1st—Dried and powdered as the principal ingredient in an 
astringent stimulant omtment, applied to severe ulcerations. 
me 
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