DRUGS. 



N. 0. 266. GRAMIiNE,E. GLASSES. 



Bambusa arimdinacea. Schreb. Common Bamboo Cane. 



Linn. Syst. Hexandria Monogynia. 



The silicious secretion deposited in the joints of this and other species 

 Tabasheer.' 



Vernacular. The plant, Vungsha> Sans. Bans, Beng. Mandgay, 

 Dec. Kull-moollah, Mai. Moonghill, Tarn. Fedooroo, Kichakai t 

 Tel. Niee-hindee, Pers. Tabasheer, Bun-lochun, Hind. Moon- 

 ghill-ooppoo, Tarn, Vedooroo-ooppoo, Tel. Una-lee, Cey. Teba- 

 sheer, Arab. Tubsheer, Pers. Wah-tai-ga-kyouk y Burmah. 



Habitat. India. 



Remarks. Tabasheer is yielded by several species, but I am unable to 

 specify any other than the above plant. Dalzell gives, besides this 

 plant, three other species as common to Bombay, viz., B. stricta (Rox.) 

 the " Bas" or " Oodha" of the natives, of which Boar-spears are made; 

 B. vulgaris (Schreb.} the " Kulluck" or "Bamboo;" and B. arundo 

 (Klein.) the " Chiwaree" of the Ghats, familiar to Europeans in the shape 

 of " Mahableshwur walking-sticks." Tabasheer is an article of the 

 greatest antiquarian interest, as Salmasius, Sprengel, and Fee are of 

 opinion that it is referred to, and not sugar, by the ancients, Dioscorides 

 and Pliny for example, where they mention craKxapov and Saccharum. 

 Salmasius states that the saccharum of the ancients, as described by them, 

 had none of the properties of sugar, and was used in ways sugar never 

 could be ; and in another place that the o-a^apoi/ of the Greeks was taba- 

 sheer " beyond all controversy." Against this dictum the line in Lucan 

 has been cited 



" Quique bibunt tenera dulces ab arundine succos " 



as if the bamboo could be a " tenera arundo." But Salmasius quotes 

 this very line, and yet goes on to show by arguments one finds it difficult 

 to refute, although common sense would reject the conclusion, that cane 

 sugar was unknown to the ancients. One would think Pliny's description 

 left little room^ for doubt ; yet Salmasius, by means of a comma, alters 

 its whole meaning. The passage is as follows "Saccharon et Arabia 

 fert, sed laudatius India ; est autem mel in arundinibus collectum, gurn- 

 mium modo candidum, dentibus fragile, amplissimum nucis avellanae 

 magnitudine, ad medicinee tantum usum." But, says Salmasius, "ita hsec 

 distinguenda, collectum gummium modo, non ut est vulgo gummium modo 

 candidum. Hsec omnia prorsum quadrant in tabascir, vel saccharum 

 mambu;" "it is white, brittle to the teeth, is collected in reeds, is 

 sweet," (!) " and useful in medicine." Dioscorides says " what is called 

 crcLKxapov is a kind of concrete honey, found in reeds in India and Arabia 

 Felix, in consistence like salt, and brittle between the teeth like salt. 

 Taken dissolved in water it is borne by the stomach, &c. &c." It is diffi- 

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