SOLANACEA. 627 
_ writers we meet with the mutilated form Jusquiamus. Maho- 
- ™metan writers call it Banj, an Arabic corruption of the Persian 
_ Bang; they say it is the Afiyun (émor) of the Greeks, the Azmalis 
_ of the Syrians, and the Katfft or Iskiras of the Moors; they 
also add that in the Deilami language it is called Kir-chak, 
because the capsules resemble a little basket with a cover, such 
as the Arabs make out of date leaves and call Kafir. Baron 
Hammer-Purgstall makes the following important observation : 
ndj, the plural of which in Coptic is ‘ntbendj,’ is without 
ubt the same plant as the ‘nepenthe,’ which has hitherto so 
much perplexed the commentators of Homer. Helen evidently 
wought the nepenthe from Egypt, and bendj is there still 
reputed to possess all the wonderful qualities which Homer 
attributes to it.” (Trébutien “ Contes Inédits des Mille et une 
Nuits,” i, p. 12, note.) Mir Muhammad Husain’s description 
Banj in the Makhzan agrees well with the genus Hyos- 
amus. He says there are three kinds—white, black, and 
and that the white is to be preferred; he mentions the 
ration of a sun-dried extract from the juice of the fresh 
, and says that the leaves are also pounded and made into 
yaste with flour, out of which small cakes are formed, which 
hen _ dry retain their medicinal properties for some time, 
mbane is described by Hastern writers on Materia Medica 
yxicating, narcotic and anodyne; among the many uses 
ch it is put the following may be mentioned as now 
to the Hast. A poultice of the juice with barley flour 
sd to relieve the pain of inflammatory swellings. The 
in wine are applied to gouty enlargements, inflamed 
and swelled testicles. About half a drachm of the 
with 1 drachm of poppy seeds is made into a mixture 
: and water, and given as an anodyne iv congh, gout, 
qual parts of the seeds and opium are said to bea 
reotic. A mixture of the powdered seeds with 
Fe ee cr oe eathache-. (Serb. Corp. 5s) Sul 
aperto alterci semine carbonibus ‘asperso, subinde os cole 
erdum enim quasi vermicul: quidam ejiciuntur. (See 
