290 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 18G2. 



1862. the Chinese name Ta-hai-tsze, a drug which some years ago had 

 SecdTof an ephemeral reputation in Paris as a specific in diarrhoea and 

 Scaphium. dysentery. From its resemblance to the fruits of certain species 

 of Erioglossum and Nephelium, I conjectured it might belong to 

 one of those genera, or at least to the Order Sapindacece. In 

 May last, however, M. Decaisne requested me to examine 

 wli ether it was not rather the seed of Scaphium, a genus of 

 Sterculiacece in which the follicles inclosing the seeds are mono- 

 spermous, very large and leaf-like, and open long before the seed 

 attains maturity. The correctness of M. Decaisne's opinion was, 

 soon confirmed by specimens of Scaphium scaphiaerum, Wall, 

 contained in the herbarium of the Royal Gardens of Kew, and 

 in that of the Linnean Society, and no doubt remained that the 

 seed of that plant constitutes the drug called Ta-hai-tsze by the 

 Chinese, and Boa-tam-paijang and Bung-talai by the Siamese. 

 The French collection of products from Cochin-China includes a 

 specimen of it, which in the catalogue is referred doubtfully to 

 Sterculia (Scaphium) scaphigera; it is stated, though probably in 

 eiTor, to be used in dyeing. It is also sent to the Exhibition 

 from Siam. 



Behen Root. RADIX BEHEN. This drug, which held an important place in 

 the medical writings of the Arab school, and which thence 

 came to be introduced into most of the Pharmacopoeias of 

 Europe up to the commencement of the last century, was 

 recently the subject of an interesting communication to the 

 Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie * by Professor Guibourt, of 

 Paris. There are two sorts of Behen, the white and the red, 

 both of which have long been obsolete in Europe, though still 

 found in the bazaars of the north-west of India, whence speci- 

 mens have been sent to the Exhibition. White Behen is referred 

 by all writers on Materia Medica to Centaurea Behen, L., a plant 

 of Persia and traditionally also of the Lebanon. Red Behen is 

 generally attributed to Statice Limonium, L., but the root of 

 this plant, whether produced in Europe or in Asia, is so very 

 different that I cannot suppose there is the least connection 

 between it and the drug in question. 



1 Tome 31, p. 227. 



