﻿4.T4 ON THE SPIKENARD 



rather a rank aromatic odour, and, from the virtue 

 ascribed to it of curing intermittent fevers, is known 

 by the Sanscrit name of jwarancusa, which literally 

 means a fever-hook, and alludes to the iron-hook with 

 which the elephants are managed. Lastly, Dr. An- 

 derson of Madras, who delights in useful pursuits and 

 in assisting the pursuits of others, favoured me with a 

 complete specimen of the Andropogon Nardus, one 

 of the most common grasses on the coast, and 

 flourishing most luxuriantly on the mountains, never 

 eaten by cattle, but extremely grateful to bees, and 

 containing an essential oil, which, he understands, 

 is extracted from it in many parts of Hindustan, and 

 used as an atar, ox perfume. He adds a very curious 

 philological remark, that, in the Tamul dictionary, 

 most words beginning with nar have some relation to 

 fragrance ; as narukeradu to yield an odour ; nartum 

 plllu, lemon-grass ; nartei, citron ; narta manum, the 

 wild orange-tree ; narum panel, the Indian Jasmin ; na- 

 rurn allerl, a strong smelling flower ; and nartu, which 

 is put tor nard in the Tamul version of our Scriptures; 

 so that not only the nard of the Hebrezvs and Greeks, 

 but even the copla narium of Horace, may be derived 

 from an Indian root. To this I can only say, that I 

 have not met with any such root in Sanscrit, the oldest 

 polished language of India ; and that in Persian, which 

 has a manifest affinity with it, nar means a pomegra- 

 nate, and nargll (a word originally Sanscrit) a, cocoa- 

 nut ; neither of which has any remarkable fragrance. 



Such is the evidence in support of the opinion given 

 by the great Swedish naturalist, that the true nard was 

 a gramineous plant, and a species of Andropogon ; 

 but since no grass, that I have yet seen, bears any re- 

 semblance to \X\QJatamansi, which 1 conceive to be the 

 nardus of the antients, I beg leave to express my dis- 

 sent, with some confidence as a philologer, though with 

 humble diffidence as a student in botany. I am not, 

 indeed, of opinion that the nardum of the Romans 



