GALBANUM 487 



a violet red colour when warmed with hydrochloric acid ; the con- 

 stituent to which this characteristic reaction is due is not known. 



Good qualities of the drug should yield about 40 per cent, of sub- 

 stances insoluble in alcohol, about 10 per cent, of moisture, and give 

 on incineration not more than about 7 per cent, of ash. 



Uses. Galbanum is used chiefly as a stimulant in plasters. 



ASAFETIDA 



(Asafetida) 



Source, &C. Asafetida is a gum resin obtained from the root of 

 Ferula fostida, Regel, F. rubricaulis, Boissier (N.O. Umlelliferce) , and 

 probably other species. These plants, like those yielding ammoniacum 

 and galbanum, are large Umbelliferous plants growing in eastern 

 Persia and western Afghanistan. In the cortex of the stem, and 

 especially in that of the root, there are numerous large, schizogenous 

 ducts filled with a milky, gum-resinous emulsion ; these when wounded 

 discharge their contents, which then gradually acquire by evaporation 

 a firmer consistence. 



Part of the drug is certainly collected in a manner similar to that 

 in which part at least of commercial galbanum is obtained viz. by 

 laying bare the root of the plant and cutting off the stem close to the 

 crown ; the emulsion that flows from the cut surface is allowed to 

 harden, for which purpose the root is protected by a dome-like covering 

 of sticks and leaves ; the hardened gum-resin is then scraped off, a 

 slice of the root cut off, and the juice again allowed to exude, and so 

 the process is repeated. Some is probably obtained by incising the 

 stem. 



Herat and Kandahar are the centres of the asafetida trade. The 

 drug is exported from Bunder Abbas and other ports on the Persian 

 Gulf, partly also from Bombay, mostly in large tin-lined cases, but a 

 small quantity arrives as a pasty mass in tins or hides. 



Description. Asafetida occurs in three forms, viz. : paste, tear 

 and mass (block or lump). Paste and tear are the purer forms, but 

 the bulk of the drug is mass. 



The tears, some of which are separate, some more or less aggluti- 

 nated together, are rounded or flattened, and vary from 1 to 3 cm. 

 in diameter. They are of a dull yellow or sometimes dirty grey 

 colour ; some darken on keeping, finally becoming reddish brown, 

 but others retain their original colour for years, thus indicating 

 some difference in the drug. Probably the red variety is derived from 

 F. fostida, the white from F. rubricaulis. When fresh they are usually 

 tough at ordinary temperatures, becoming harder when cooled and 

 softer when warmed. Internally they may be yellowish or milky 



