320 UMBELLIFERiE. 



iiients. This is the Abushaheree Hing, imported from Abushir (Bender 

 Bushehr) and Bender Abassi on the Persian Gulf. It is the product of 

 Ferula alliacea Boiss.^ (F. Asafoetida Boiss. et Buhse, non Linn.) dis- 

 covered in 1850 by Buhse, and observed in 1858-59 by Bunge in many 

 places in Persia. This Hing is collected near Yezd in Khorassan, and 

 also in the province of Kerman, the plant being known as anguza, the 

 same name that is applied to Scorodosma. 



Abushaheree Hing is never brought into European trade.^ It forms 

 an almost blackish brown, originally ^^YtTis^uce'/ii, brittle mass, of extremely 

 foetid alliaceous odour, containing many pieces of the stem with no 

 admixture of earth. Guibourt, by whom it was first noticed,^ was con- 

 vinced that it had not been obtained from the root, but had been cut 

 from the stem. He remarks that Theophrastus alludes to asafoetida (as 

 he terms the Silphium* of this author) as being of two kinds, — the one 

 of the stem, the other of the root ; and thinks the former may be the 

 sort under notice. Vigier;' who calls it Asafoetida nauseeux, found it to 

 contain in 100 parts, of resin and essential oil 37'5, and gum 23'7. 



We find the odour of the Hing much more repulsive than that of 

 common Asafoetida. The former yields an abundance of essential oil, 

 which differs by its reddish hue from that of asafoetida. The oil of 

 Hing, as distilled by one of us (1877) has also a higher specific gravity, 

 namely, 1"02 at 25° C. We find also its rotatory power stronger; it 

 deviated 38°'8 to the right, when examined in a column of 100 milli- 

 metres in length. The oil of common asafoetida deviated 13°'5 under 

 the same conditions. 



By gently warming the Abushaheree Hing with concentrated 

 hydrochloric acid, about 1'12 sp. gr., it displays simply a dingy brown 

 hue. By shaking it with water and a little ammonia no fluorescence 

 is produced. In all these respects there is consequently a well-marked 

 difference between the drug under examination and common asafoetida. 



F. teterrima Kar. et Kir., a plant of Soungaria, is likewise remarkable 

 for its intense alliaceous smell; but the plant is not known as the source 

 of any commercial product.® 



GALBANUM. 



Gummi-resina Galbanum; Galbanum ; F. Galbanum; G. Mutterharz. 



Botanical Origin — The uncertainty that exists as to the plants 

 which furnish asafoetida, hangs over those which produce the nearly 

 allied drug Galbanum. Judging from the characters of the latter, it 

 can scarcely be doubted that it is yielded by umbelliferous plants of at 

 least two species, which are probably the following :'' — 



^ Flora Orientalis, ii. (1872) 995. ^ Gommes-risines des Ombellifirea (th^se), 



2 A large specimen of it was kindly pre- Paris, 1869. 32. 



sented to one of us (H.) by Mr. D. S. Kemp ® Borszczow, op. cii. 13-14. 



of Bombay. We have also examined the ' The following in addition have at vari- 



same drug in the Indian Museum, and oustimes been supposed to affordgalbanum: 



further received good specimens by the kind- — Ferulago galbanifera Koch, a native of 



ness of Professor Dymock. See his notes the Mediterranean region and Southern 



Pharm. Joum. v. (1875) 103, and viii. Russia; Opoidia galbanifera Lindl., a 



(1877) 103. Persian plant of doubtful genus ; Btibon 



^ Hist, des Drogues, iii. (1850) 223. CaZJawwm L.,a shrubby umbellifer of South 



*• Hist. Plantarum, 1. vi. c. 3. Africa. 



