GUAMINE^. 593 



I 



History, Uses, &C.— If the wild form of the sugar-cane 

 IS to be anywhere now met with, it is in India, of which country 

 it is undoubtedly a native, and where it has been cultivated 

 from the earliest antiq^uity. Whether the species grown in China, 

 8. sinense (Roxb. ), is specifically the same is scarcely determined 

 with certainty, but it is probably native in that country. (BenfL 

 and Trim.) The Sanskrit name of the plant is Ikshu, and it][is 

 also called Guda-trina^ "the grass from which guda is made," 

 and Guda-daru, &c. ; from the juice (Ikshurasa) the ancient 

 Hindus prepared an extract by boiling, which, when soft and 

 sticky, was called Ikshurasa-kvatha, Phanita, and Guda, but 

 when allowed to drain and become dry was known as Guda- 

 sarkara, Khanda or Khanda-sarkara, and Matoyandika. Twelve 

 varieties of sugar-cane are mentioned by Sanskrit writers, but 

 m this number are probably included other grasses belonging 

 to the genera Saccharum, Sorghion, &c. The root of the sugar- 

 cane is also used in Hindu medicine, and is considered to have 

 demulcent and diuretic properties. It is an ingredient along 

 with the roots of Sacchanim sara, 8. spontaneiim, Uragrostis 

 cynosuroideSy and Gynodon dactylon in the compounds known as 

 Trinapancha-nmla and Kusa^valeha^ which are much prescribed 

 as adjuncts to metallic medicines in gonorrhoea and other 



urinary 



kind of rum was also 



obtained by the ancient Hindus from the juice of the cane or 

 from guda and water fermented, which was known as Sidhu 



and Ganda. 



The unrefined, dark-brown Guda or Phanita of the Hindus 



known 



SI 



(Shakar) ; from it they manufactured the di-y crystalliBe sugar 

 ^iiich they call oiT (Kand) or o L*i (Tfabat), now generally 

 ^vritten a^ by both Arabs and Persians. We hare already 

 stated (see Article on Bambusa) our reasons for believing that 

 the oraKxapov of Dioscorides was not cane-sugar, viz., that no such 



at that time, 



rystalline state was tnown 



Hindus being 



the dark-brown mass known as guda, and which is still the 

 iind of sugar most popular in India. This substance, as well 



111.-75 



