646 CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT 



As early perhaps as this date ( . . . ), Geber writing on Chemistry, mentioning among other 

 preparations corrosive sublimate — (Pouchet). 



Salsola sativa of the seashore of Southern Spain. Carbonate of soda, effloresced on the soil of 

 Northwestern Hindustan and procured besides from ashes of Salsolaceous plants, is called in Sanscrit 

 "sajika," in Hindee "sajji muttee " or "sajji loon;" in which we recognize the "sagimen vitri" of 

 Geber, — so named from its use in glass-making (Royle ant. hind. 41), the barilla in question being 

 possibly manufactured in the Mediterranean countries : S. sativa, annual and herbaceous, was observed 

 by Loflingtrav. 132, and Cavanilles iii. pi. 291, in Spain, and is enumerated by Guibourt among the 

 four species yielding the best barilla or soda of commerce, containing twenty-five to forty per cent of 

 Carbonate of soda (Lindl.). The plant from transported specimens is described by Linnajus. 



Salsola soda of the shores of the Mediterranean as far as the Crimea. Annual and herbaceous : 

 — enumerated by Guibourt among the four species furnishing the best soda of commerce. S. soda is 

 known to grow on the seashore of Southern Europe (Linn., and Jacq. hort. pi. 68) ; was observed by 

 Forskal near Marseilles; by Desfontaines i. 216, in Barbary ; by Bory, in the Peloponnesus; by 

 Forskal, near Smyrna; and is known to grow on the "salt-plains" of the Crimea (Lindl.). 



Salsola tragus of the shores of the Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian seas. Annual and herba- 

 ceous, with spinescent leaves : — enumerated by Guibourt among the four species furnishing the best 

 soda of commerce. Described by Matthioli p. 731, and Lobel pi. 797; termed "kali spinosum foliis 

 Iongioribus et angustioribus " by Tournefort inst. 247 ; and known to grow on the seashore of South- 

 ern Europe (Linn., and Pers.). Eastward, observed by Sibthorp frequent in the maritime sands of 

 the Greek, islands ; by Delile, on the Mediterranean border of Egypt ; and known to grow on the 

 shores of the Black Sea and Caspian (Pall. ii. pi. 29, and Lindl.). 



Salsola kali of the shores of the North Atlantic and Mediterranean, as far as the Caspian and 

 salines of Selenga. Annual with rigid spinescent leaves: — enumerated by Guibourt as the fourth 

 species furnishing the best soda of commerce (Lindl.). S. kali is called in Britain priiklv glasswort 

 (Prior) ; is described by Morison v. pi. 33 ; is termed '■ kali spinosum foliis crassioribus et brevioribus " 

 by Tournefort inst. 247 ; is known to grow on the sandy portions of the seashore from Sweden to the 

 Mediterranean (fl. Dan. pi. 313, and Wats.) ; and was observed by Desfontaines in Parbary. East- 

 ward, observed by Forskal, and Sibthorp, frequent on the seashore of Greece and Asia Minor ; by 

 Forskal, and Delile, on the Mediterranean border of Egypt ; by Bieberstein, on salines around Taurus 

 and Caucasus; and by Pallas, along the Volga, the Caspian, and as far as the salines of Selenga. 

 Westward from Europe, known to grow along the Atlantic shore of North America from Lat. 43 to 

 31° in Florida (Pursh, Walt., Ell., Balclw., and myself). 



As early probably as this year, by Abulkasim of Balkh and Hasan ben Musa of Naubakht, accounts 

 of the Hindu sects and ordinances, and of the tortures self-imposed by devotees (extract Masudi edit. 

 Gildem.). 



''903 A. D." (Pauth. 331), decree of the emperor Tchao-tsoung depriving the eunuchs of official 

 position; followed by a general massacre of them throughout China. 



"904 A. D. = 1st year of the ' thian-yeou ' of Tchao-tsoung" (Chinese chron. table), beginning 

 of the Sixtieth cycle. 



'• The same year " (Marcel), Egypt recovered from the descendants of Tooloon, by the army of 

 khalif Moktafi. 



Corchorus olitorius of the Southern border of the Sahara. Called in Yemen and Egypt " melo- 

 chia " or " meloukhyeh," in which we recognize the " meloukhia " of the Blacks seen in Egypt by Ishak 

 Israeli, and identified by him with the "schouschandibe " of Irak — (Abd-allat. i. 2), mentioned also 

 in the treatise Elrudschlat, and by Ebn Baitar : C. olitorius is enumerated by Alpinus, Forskal, and 

 Clot-Bey, as a favourite esculent in Egypt ; was observed by Forskal in Yemen both wild and culti- 

 vated ; and is known to be cultivated by the Negro tribes of West Africa (J. D. Hook, and Benth. fl. 

 nigr.). Eastward from Arabia and Persia, is called in Sanscrit "putta," in Bengalee "put" (Royle 

 fibr. plant.) ; was observed in Hindustan by Roxburgh, Wight, and by Graham " common in Bombay, 

 springing up in gardens and cultivated ground ; " is described by Royle as i potherb, and one of the 

 species yielding/*//* fibre ; and by Mason v. p. 521, as manufactured by the Bengalees into " coarse 

 paper," occurring also as a weed throughout Burmah "though not very abundant." As transported 

 to European gardens, is termed by old writers " olus judaicum" (Royle) equivalent to the English 

 Jew's mallow; and is described by Commelyn hort. pi. 12, and Plukenet v. pi. 127. By European 

 colonists, was carried to the Mauritius Islands, where it occurs only in the cultivated state (Boj.) • and 

 to the West Indies (Macfad., and A. Dec). 



"The same year" (Blair), Italy ravaged by the Hungarians. 



"905 A. D. = 2d year of the 'thian-yeou,' accession of Tchao-hiouan-ti " or Tchao-siouan-ti, of 

 the Thang or Fifteenth dynasty — (Chinese chron. table, and Pauth. p. 331). 



"In this year" (ann. Jap., and Klapr.), the Ko-kin, a Japanese poem, composed : —followed by 



