ASAFCETIDA. 67 



organic matter, clay, stones, g>^psum, etc., the ingenuity 

 of the natives sometimes being remarkable. The later 

 product, especially if care has been taken in the collecting, 

 is thicker and more resinous and yields the better type 

 of gum resin. 



The milky juice as it first exudes is whitish; then by 

 oxidation it becomes reddish to violet, and later, brown. 

 In the market there appear several grades running 

 gradually one into another, from the liquid amygdaloid, 

 tears to stony, representing different grades of hardness, 

 and the predominance of certain kinds of lumps in the 

 mass. In the warmer and temperate climates, at least, 

 most of the asaf oetida becomes amalgamated into masses ; 

 the embedding substance being reddish to brownish and 

 holding a number of roundish, tear-like or granular 

 masses, which have a wax-like fracture, are whitish in the 

 center, but undergo the same color changes. 



The better the sort of asaf oetida, the greater the number 

 of tears and the less the embedding substance, and vice 

 versa, the poorer sorts containing impurities up to 50, 

 60, or even 70 per cent, of the entire mass. Two sorts 

 alone are regularly recognized in commerce, Tear and 

 Lump. 



The odor is peculiar, somewhat alliaceous, and the 

 taste is sharp, bitter, and persistent. 



Under the microscope the appearance is of an un- 

 homogeneous mass. If small pieces of asaf oetida are 

 examined in oil, the main portions resemble a homogen- 

 eous gummy substance with small, spherical, irregular 

 resinous masses sprinkled here and there; in places free 

 from these resinous masses at times ; in other places there 

 may be numerous granules of resin and drops of ethereal 

 oil. Mixed with water, an emulsion results with much 

 mechanical motion. This motion, however, is less than 

 that observed when other gum emulsions are studied. 



Chemistry. — When cold, good varieties of asafoitida 



