496 POLYGONACE^. 



government use or to private traders ; and in 1863 the Rhubarb Office 

 was abolished. 



Thus the so-called Russian or Muscovitic or Croiun Rhubarb, 

 familiarly known in England as Turkey Rhubarb, a drug which for its 

 uniformly good quality long enjoyed the highest reputation, has become 

 a thing of the past, which can onl}'^ now be found in museum collections. 

 It began to appear in English commerce at the commencement of the 

 last century. Alston,^ who lectured on botany and materia medica at 

 Edinburgh in 1720, speaks of rhubarb as brought from Turkey and the 

 East Indies, — " and of late, likewise from Muscovy." 



It has been shown (p. 494) that rhubarb was shipped from Syria in 

 the 12th century. Vasco da Gama^ mentions it in 1497 among the 

 exports of Alexandria. In fact, the drug was carried from the far east 

 to Persia, whence it was brought by caravans to Aleppo, Tripoli, 

 Alexandria, and even to Smyrna. From these Levant ports it reached 

 Europe, and was distributed as Turhey Rhubarb; while that which 

 was shipped direct from China, or by way of India, became known as 

 China, Canton, or East India Rhubarb. The latter was already the 

 more common sort in England as early as 1640.^ 



As the rhubarb of the Levant disappeared from trade, that of Russia 

 took not only its place but likewise its name, until the term " Turkey 

 Rhubarb " came to be the accepted designation of the drug imported 

 from Russia. This strange confusion of terms was not however preva- 

 lent on the Continent, but was chiefly limited to British trade. 



The risk and expense of the enormous land-transport over almost 

 the whole breadth of Asia, caused rhubarb in ancient times to be one 

 of the very costly drugs. Thus at Alexandria in 1497, it was valued 

 at twelve times the price of benzoin. In France in 1542,^ it was worth 

 ten times as much as cinnamon, or more than four times the price of 

 saffron. At Ulm in 1596,^ it was more costly than opium. A German 

 price-list of the magistrate of Schweinfurt, of 1614, shows Radix Rha 

 Barbari to be six times as dear as fine myrrh, and more than twice 

 the price of opium. An official English list" giving the price of drugs 

 in 1657, quotes opium as Qs. per lb., scammony 12s., and rhubarb 16.3. 



Production and Commerce — The districts of the Chinese Empire 

 which produce rhubarb extend over a vast area. They are comprised 

 in the four northern provinces of China Proper, known as Chihli, Shansi, 

 Shensi," and Honan ; the immense north-western province of Kansuh, 

 formerly partly included in Shensi, but now extending across the desert 

 of Gobi and to the frontiers of Tibet; the province of Tsing-hai in- 

 habited by Mongols, which includes the great salt lake of Koko-nor and 

 the districts of Tangut, Sifan, and Turfan ; and lastly the mountains of 

 the western province of Szechuen. The plant is found on the pasturages 



1 Lectures on the Mat. Med. i. (1770) 502. au moyen dge, ed. 2. 1847. 308-9. 



- Roteiro da viagem de Vasco da Gama, ' Reichard, Beitrilije zur Geschichte der 



por A. Herculano e o Barao de Castello de Apotheken, Ubii, 1825. 208. 



Paiva, ed. 2. Lisboa, 1861. 115. — For an ^ Book of the Values of Merchandize im- 



abstract of the "Roteiro," see Fluckiger, ported, according to which Excize is to he 



Documente zur Geschichte der Pharm. 1S7G. paid by the First Buyer, Lond. 1657. 



13. ' According to Consul Hughes of Han- 



* Parkinson, Theatrum Botaniciim, 1640. kow, San-yuan in Shensi (north of Sin- 



155. ganfu) is one of the principal marts for 



•* Leber, Appreciation de la fortune privfie rhubarb. 



