2l8 



NA TURE 



[August 12, 1922 



It would take too much space to give in detail the 

 various diseases for which black coral was used as a 

 remedy ; but there is one point of difference between 

 the account given by Rumphius of the use of the 

 bracelets in his time and the account given by Mr. 

 Pownall in his letter quoted in Nature. Mr. Pownall 

 says " the natives maintain that it must be used quite 

 plain ; and ornamentation of gold or silver renders 

 them quite useless." Rumphius says that they 

 ornament the inside of the bracelets with gold figures 

 because they say, and " not without reason," that the 

 coral must scratch the skin if it is to do any good. 

 We may wonder if Rumphius smiled to himself when 

 he wrote the words " niet zonder reden " in this 

 sentence. 



There were other kinds of Accarbaar or bastard 

 corals which were known to the Malays in the time 

 of Rumphius and used by them for medicinal purposes, 

 but the Accarbaar itam or Coralliuin nigrum was 

 regarded as the most important and was held in the 

 highest esteem. Among these was the Accarbaar puti, 

 which from the figure given by Rumphius was an 

 Alcyonarian belonging to the family Isidae and probably 

 to the type genus Isis. This is of some special interest 

 as the Mediterranean species of Isis was held in high 

 esteem by the Mediterranean races in classical times, 

 and was currently believed to represent the petrified 

 hair of Isis. But that is another story, and one about 

 which only the most fragmentary indications remain. 



The task of identifying the various kinds of black 

 coral mentioned by the ancient and later writers up 

 to the end of the eighteenth century is extremely 

 difficult, as detailed descriptions of the characters 

 upon which the modern classification is based are 

 almost entirely lacking. The substance was evidently 

 black or brown in colour, it was capable of being bent 

 or twisted when subjected to heat, and it was hard 

 enough to be given a polished surface. Moreover, 

 it may be presumed from various references that it 

 was a product of the sea. It might have been, there- 

 fore, the Keratin axis of one of the Plexauridae, of one 

 of the Gorgonidfe or of one of the Antipatharia, or, 

 finally, of Gerardia savalia. 



The Accarbaar itam of Rumphius was probably a 

 Plexaurid. The figure of the stript coral that 

 Rumphius gives is not conclusive but quite consistent 

 with this identification. In the description of the 

 ccenenchym which covers the axis, when it is fresh, he 

 uses the Dutch work Schorse, i.e. bark, whereas in 

 the description of another Accarbaar which is almost 

 certainly a Gorgonid he uses the word Korste, i.e. 

 crust. In the description of a third Accarbaar which 

 is obviously an Antipatharian he uses the word Slijm, 

 i.e. slime. With such an accurate observer as Rum- 

 phius was, we may assume that the use of these 

 different words for the ccenenchym signified a real 

 difference in character between them. In the Plex- 

 auridae the ccenenchym is relatively thick, in the 

 Gorgonidje it is almost invariably much thinner, 

 whereas in the Antipatharia it is usually little more 

 than a soft and delicate film covering the axis. 

 This identification of the Accarbaar itam of Rumphius 

 as a Plexaurid is consistent with Prof. Gardiner's 

 identification of the bracelets obtained by Mr. Pownall 

 in Java as the axis of Plexaura. 



NO. 2754, VOL. I 10] 



Rumphius states that the Accarbaar itam is not 

 identical with Pliny's Antipathes because it does not 

 give the smell or colour of myrrh on boiling in milk. For 

 other reasons than this, however, we may feel certain 

 that the Antipathes of Pliny and the earlier writers was 

 not a Plexaurid. The evidence seems to point to the 

 conclusion that the black coral commonly used by 

 the ancients was the form mentioned by Imperato 

 (1599) as Savaglia and now known to science as 

 Gerardia savalia. (Until quite recently Gerardia was 

 considered to be an Antipatharian, but it has now 

 been definitely placed in the order Zoanthidea.) The 

 reason for believing that it was Gerardia is that this 

 coral grows in the Mediterranean Sea, whilst the 

 Plexauridae do not, that it attains to great dimensions 

 (a great specimen in the British Museum being two 

 metres in height and spreading fan-wise to a width 

 of over two metres) and the surface of the branches is 

 smooth and devoid of spines. It is possible that in 

 addition to the Gerardia the main stem of some of 

 the species of Antipatharia that are found in the 

 Mediterranean Sea may also have been used. Gansius 

 in his " Historia Coralliorum " (1666) describes a 

 species, Antipathes hirsutum, found in the Sardinian 

 seas which is in length greater than the human stature. 

 The axis of such a specimen if polished would be 

 difficult to distinguish from that of Gerardia. 



The difficulty of determining the black coral of the 

 ancients, however, is due to the possibility that they 

 may have imported it from the South, in which case 

 Plexaurid or Gorgonid coral may also have come into 

 use. Thus Pliny says in writing on coral, Nat. Hist, 

 xxxii. 11, " Gignitur et in Rubro quidem mari sed 

 nigrius item in Persico — vocatur Jace — laudatissimum 

 (i.e. red coral) in gallico sinu circa Stoechades insulas," 

 etc. This passage indicates that the most valuable 

 kind of coral known to the Romans came from the 

 lies D'Hyeres and other places in the Mediterranean 

 Sea, hut a black kind was also imported from the 

 Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, in which seas the 

 Corallium rubrum is not found. 



Black coral was also known to the Moors in early 

 times, and was very probably obtained by the fisher- 

 men engaged in the famous red-coral fishery off 

 Marsa-al-Kharaz, the modern Bona or Bone on the 

 coast of Algeria. The Arabic name for black coral 

 was " yasz " or " yusz," a word which seems to have 

 some resemblance to Pliny's " jace." 



These few notes on the use of black coral in early 

 times may seem to be very fragmentary and in- 

 conclusive, but they may be, perhaps, sufficient to 

 create some interest in and to stimulate further in- 

 vestigation in a chapter of zoological mythology which 

 has not yet been written. It is probable that classical 

 and oriental research will reveal a great many more 

 references to this substance than are recorded in 

 these notes, and it may be expected that the excavations 

 of the antiquaries will bring to our collections some 

 specimens of black coral that were used in ancient 

 times ; but I think there is sufficient evidence to 

 prove that the belief in the magical properties of 

 black coral is not only widespread at the present 

 day but also carries with it the sanction of a tradition 

 which has been transmitted from the early days <>l 

 our Western civilisation. 



