68 VEGETABLE DRUGS WITHOUT ORGANIC STRUCTURE. 



can be powdered, and when rubbed up with water, yield 

 a milky emulsion. In alcohol it is but partly soluble, 40 

 to 60 per cent. 



In general, asafoetida consists of resin, 50 to 70 per cent. ; 

 gum, 20 to 30 per cent., allied to, yet distinct from gum 

 arable ; ethereal oil with sulphur as high as 30 per cent. ; 

 vanillin, 0.06 per cent.; free ferulic acid, 1.28 percent.; 

 water and ash and impurities up to 5 per cent. The 

 quantitative proportions vary with the age and goodness 

 of the gum, the softer kinds being richer in oil. The 

 purest asafoetida should yield but 4 per cent, of ash ; up 

 to 10 per cent, should not necessarily constitute adultera- 

 tion, but beyond that amount sophistication is a cer- 

 tainty. 



The resin of asafoetida is soluble in alcohol, in acetic 

 acid with a clear solution; in acetone, acetic ether, and 

 chloroform, cloudy; in ether and potassium hydrate, 

 partly soluble; in petroleum ether, carbon disulphide^ 

 and benzol, insoluble. Ether separates a soluble and an 

 insoluble portion, the former of which is an asaresino- 

 tannol of ferulic acid ester. Sulphuric acid splits this 

 ester up into umhellijeron, and a resin alcohol, C24H330^, 

 OH. The insoluble portion is free asaresinotannol. 



The ethereal oil is clear yellowish with the character- 

 istic odor and mild stimulating taste. Specific gravity 

 0.975 to 0.990. It contains at least one terpene and 

 some sulphur compounds. 



GALBANUM. MOTHER RESm. 



Galbanum is a gum derived from different species of 

 Ferula, Ferula galbamflua, H. Baillon, a plant of northern 

 Persia, and Ferula ruhricaulis, Boissier, from southwestern 

 Persia, plants of the natural order Umbelltferece. 



The resin is found in nearly all parts of the plant, in 

 large schizogenous channels in the outer cortex, but is 

 obtained from the stems and sometimes from the bases 



