313 
Kasiir produced this oil quite recently. Dymock* obtained from 
the grass purchased in the bazar an essential oil with an odour 
like that of Elemi oil (Schimmel & Co.), probably due to its 
Phellandrine content, The yield is rather large, 1 oz. of oil to 
of lbs. of the dry grass. 
This is then all that is left of the once much-prized drug : a 
few dusty bundles of hay in oriental bazars, a few ounces of oil, 
and the ancient name under cover of which other grasses hive 
found their way into feh i l the chemical industry 
of our day. There seems to be, however, no reason why the old 
article should not to some extent recover its lost prestige" at least 
in the province of perfumery, which is ever in search of c ha 1 ><,'•< 
and variety. 
2. Cymbopogon Jwarancusa, Schult. 
(Andropogbn Jwarancusa, Jones.) 
Jwarancusa (Hind.) 
Discovery of the grass and derivation op the name.— 
This gra SS became first known flT'.'tO) Through a publication on the 
Nardus Indica or Spikenard ' by G. Blane,| whose brother dis- 
covered it in 1786. His account of the discovery may be worth 
reproducing : " Travelling with the Nabob Vizier, on one of his 
hunting excursions towards the northern mountains, I was sur- 
prised .me day, after crossing the rivr Rapfy, about 20 miles from 
the foot of the hills, to perceive the air perfumed with vn iromitic 
smell ; and on asking the cause, I was told it proceeded from the 
roots of the grass that were bruised or trodden out of the ground 
by the feet of the elephants and horses of the Nabob's retinue. 
The country was wild and uncultivated, and this was the common 
grass winch covered its snri'ae,-. -p. wing in large tufts close to 
each other, very rank, and in general from 3 to 4 feet in length. 
As it was the winter season there was none of it in flower. 
Indeed, the greatest part of it had been burned down on the road 
we went, in order that it might be no impediment to the Nabob's 
encampments. I collected a quantity of the roots to be dried 
for use, and carefully dug up some of it, which 1 sent to be 
Planted in my garden at Lucknow. It here throve exceedingly, 
and in the rainy season it shot up spikes about 6 feet high. 
\ • • It is called by the natives Terankus, which means 
literally in the Hindu language, fever lvsn-ainor. from the virtues 
r, i'-.v attribute re, it in that disease. ... It is esteemed a 
Powerful medicine in all kinds of fevers, whether continued or 
"iterniitt.uit. The whole plant has a strong aromatic odour ; but 
both the smell and the virtues reside principally in the husky 
roots, which in chewing have a bitter, warm, pungent taste, 
accompanied with some degree of that kind of glow m the mouth 
which cardamoms occasion." Banks, who received a specimen 
from Blane, recognised it as a hitherto undescnbed species ot 
Andropogon ; but neither he nor Blane gave it a name. On the 
