90 Mr. RoYLE on the Lycium of Dioscorides. 



rusunjun ; and that this kind, in the language of Misr, or Egypt, is called hho- 

 lan. The Persian name feel-zuhreh is translated in our best Persian and Arabic 

 Dictionary Box-thorn, the literal translation of xv%ax.cx,vda,. The Persian, being 

 compounded of two words, feel, an elephant, and zuhr, a yellow flower, may 

 refer to the brightness or conspicuous nature of the flower, in the same way 

 that a turkey is cs\\eAfeel-mom-gh, the elephant-fowl. 



The description appended to the synonyms of hooziz is evidently a trans- 

 lation of that of the Kuxiov of Dioscorides, as it is said to be " an extract of the 

 leaves and seed of a thorny plant, about three cubits in height, of which the 

 leaves are like those of box, and the fruit like that of black pepper," &c. 

 The mode of manufacturing it is then described, as well as the composition of 

 an adulterated kind, whicli for many purposes must be superior as a medicine 

 to the original article, being composed of myrrh, aloes, saffron, syrup and 

 decoction of myrtle-leaves, nearly as the present Pilulee Aloes cum Myrrha are 

 made. This will explain a passage in all accounts of Lycium, in which one 

 kind is said to have been inflammable, and the other not so ; though the 

 Persian writers appear to have reversed the matter, in making the vegetable 

 extract inflammable, and the resinous compound not so. 



The author of the Miikhziin-ool-Udwieh, in an article on the Indian hooziz, 

 mentions that the best kind came from Nuggur-kote, in the neighbourhood of 

 Lahore, and was supposed to be made from the fresh juice of Jli/robolans. To 

 this it may be objected, that as species of Terminctlia are found all over India, 

 it is not likely that an article so much in use should only be manufactured in the 

 neighbourhood of a hill-fort, which it is known serves as a commercial entrepot 

 for exchanging the produce of the hills with that of the plains. The same author 

 then alludes to another writer, who mentions having obtained his information 

 from a Hindoo pliysician of repute, that ritsot is the inspissated extract made 

 from a decoction of the fresh wood of dar-huld, or the turmeric-coloured wood. 



The Sanscrit and Hindee name dar-huld is called zur-chob and zurd-chob 

 in Persian, and in Arabic has a name signifying " the turmeric-coloured root : 

 it is said to be an Indian tree, of which the wood is yellow, and fiom which 

 rusot is said to be made. 



On inquiring in the shops of the druggists in the bazars of India, I everj- 

 where learnt that both the wood dar-huld and tiie extract rusot were im- 



