THE ODOUR OF VIOLET. Rig 
up into pieces from two to six inches long, and exported without 
further preparation. 
The quantity collected is very large, amounting, as far as 
Dr. Falconer could learn, to about two million lbs. per annum. 
Large quantities are imported into Bombay from Kashmir wd 
Amritsir, and a portion is sent through to Calcutta. 
The root, as met with in commerce, consists of irregular, crooked, 
twisted pieces, from two to three inches in length, and from half 
to one and a half inches in diameter, almost always split, with a 
rough, brown, and somewhat reticulated surface, marked by longi- 
tudinal ridges, and very compact and brittle. The pithy central 
portion is generally absent and appears to have decayed away 
before the root was collected. Internally it is dirty white, with 
radiating bundles, leaving numerous small cylindrical channels 
filled with a brownish resin. 
When cut or rubbed it has a strong and definite odour resem- 
bling that of violets or orris-root. In taste it is at first camphor- 
aceous, and then bitter with a slight pungency, but by no means 
unpleasant. The genuine root does not appear to be at all subject 
to the attack of insects, although fragments of foreign roots 
introduced as adulterations are nearly destroyed. Of the two 
varieties met with in the bazaars in India, that called Kut tulkh is 
probably the old, and Kut shirin the young root. Dr. Stewart 
hazarded the opinion that Kut shirin is the produce of a different 
and unknown plant. - 
A microscopic examination shows that Costus-root consists of 
two parts, viz. a thick cortical layer of close texture pervaded by 
a few lactiferous vessels, and an inner radiating portion, the 
parenchyma of which is not so dense. This portion is also pro- 
vided with lactiferous ducts, and a very abundant scalariform 
vascular system which appears loaded with resinous matter. No 
trace of starch is to be seen, nor does the iodine test indicate its 
presence. The dried root yields 1 per cent. of a light yellow 
essential oil of sp. gr. 0°982; rotatory power +15° 29! in 100 
millim. tube. It begins to boil at 275° C., and about a half passes 
over below 315° when decomposition takes place (Schimmel). 
Dr. Birdwood remarks that the root of a plant with the native 
name of Pushkar, believed to be a species of Lingularia, is used 
for adulterating Koot; the Kashmiris at Lahore make the same 
statement, and say that five or six kinds of roots are used as 
adulterants. 
