658 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO ITQO 



read, being carefully split, the contents, on comparing them with the specimen 

 sent from India, then on the table, were found to agree in all respects, as well as 

 with the description of the more recent drug given in the above paper. The 

 specimen, N° 3, sent from Hydrabad, and reckoned the prime sort, differed 

 somewhat in hardness, as mentioned above, from the purest particles in the Ta- 

 basheer collected by himself; but in the opinion of several of the members pre- 

 sent, who compared them, were the same substance with the particles mixed, in 

 a small proportion, in some of the other specimens, as likewise with a few par 

 tides taken from the reeds opened in their presence; which puts it beyond doubt, 

 that the substance is produced in the cavity of the bamboo. 



XIV, Of the Nardus Indica, or Spikenard. By Gilbert Blane, M. D., F. R. S, 



p. 284. 

 Dr. B. received an account, some time ago from his brother in India, of the 

 Spikenard, or Nardus Indica, a name familiar in the works of the ancient phy- 

 sicians, naturalists, and poets; but the identity of which has not hitherto been 

 satisfactorily ascertained. His brother writes, in a letter dated Lucknow,Dec. 1780, 

 that, " travelling with the Nabob Visier, on one of his hunting excursions to 

 wards the northern mountains, I was surprized one day, after crossing the river 

 Rapty, about 20 miles from the foot of the hills, to perceive the air perfumed 

 with an aromatic smell; and, on asking the cause, I was told it proceeded from 

 the roots of the grass that were bruised or trodden out of the ground by the feet 

 of the elephants and horses of the Nabob's retinue. The country was wild and 

 uncultivated, and this was the common grass which covered its surface, growing 

 in large tufts close to each other, very rank, and in general from 3 to 4 feet in 

 length. As it was the winter season, there was none of it in flower. Indeed 

 the greatest part of it had been burnt down on the road we went, in order that 

 it might be no impediment to the Nabob's encampments. I collected a quantity 

 of the roots to be dried for use, and carefully dug up some of it, which I sent 

 to be planted in my garden at Lucknow. It there throve exceedingly, and in 

 the rainy season it shot up spikes about 6 feet high. This is accompanied with a 

 drawing of the plant in flower, and of the dried roots, in which the natural ap- 

 pearance is tolerably preserved. It is called by the natives Terankus, which means 

 literally, in the Hindoo language, fever-restrainer, from the virtues they at^ 

 tribute to it in that disease. They infuse about a dram of it in half a pint of hot 

 water, with a small quantity of black pepper. This infusion serves for one dose, 

 and is repeated 3 times a day. It is esteemed a powerful medicine in all kinds of 

 fevers, whether continued or intermittent. I have not made any trial of it 

 myself; but shall certainly take the first opportunity of doing so. The whole 

 plant has a strong aromatic odour; but both the smell and the virtues reside 



