OHENOrODIA CE^. 141 



The alcoholic extract contained an alkaloidal principle 

 precipitahle by alkalios, soluble in ether, and giving a rose 

 colour with strong sulphuric acid. 



CHENOPODIACE^. 



USHNAN. 



GE^ERA.— Arthrocnemum, Caroxylon, Salicornia, 



Salsola, Suseda. Soda plants. 



History, Uses, &C. — Sarjikakshara has doubtless been 

 prepared in India^ as it is at the present time, from averj^ early 

 date. In the time of Pliny a mineral alkali appears to have 

 been prepared in Egypt from the ashes of certain plants and to 

 have been known as Natrum, or in Greek vlrpov {^Plm, 3], 10), 

 and Strabo^ as cited by Beckman, mentions an alkaline water 

 in Armenia used for washing clothes, {Hist, of Invent, iii., 

 p. 233.) The plants from which Barilla was prepared were 

 known to the Greeks as t6 dXiuou or salt-worts, {Theophr. II. P, 



iv., 20 ; Diosc. i., 105.) The Arabs also were early acquainted with 

 the same substance, which seems to have been sometimes potash, 

 or a mixture of soda and potash in various proportions, and to 

 which they gave the name of t^^' El -kali or alkali. The 

 Arabian writers describe Ushnan as good for the mange or 

 scab, and the itch ; clearing to the complexion, cleansing, 

 emraenagogue and abortive, and a substance wath which clothes 

 and the hands are washed. The author of the Makhzan^ 

 speaking of TJshndn, states that it is a name applied to 

 several plants, one of which has slender branches instead of 

 leaves, upon which knob-like bodies form [Suceda fruticosa?). 

 This plant is always fresh and juicy, and is a large herb with 

 round w^oody stems. He then describes the manner in which 

 the plant is burned in a pit in the ground, and the Kali or 

 Barilla extracted from the ashes. After this he mentions 

 another plant with reddish stems and leaves purplish on one 



