42 Remarks on the Sequel to the [Jan. 



na\ vdpSos i) yatraviK)} (rendered yayyiiTKi]) na\ ixa.XhfSa.Qov in tS>v eaw rdirwy. The 



articles of merchandize here mentioned are the productions of Eastern 

 India, and were, no doubt, exported from the Gangetic mart. Mala- 

 bathrum appears to have been shipped to Nelkunda, Limurike, and the 

 other ports of Southern India, and was thence exported to the countries 

 bordering on the Mediterranean, where it was known by various names, 

 besides that of Malabathrum, as <pv\\oi> ivdiKov—crcpaipia [xa\a$adpoi'--<pv\\ov 

 Karaafyaipov* — Herba Paradisii — Folium — appellations which refer to 

 the country where it was produced, the form of its preparation, and 

 the high estimation in which it was held by the ancients. Malabathrum, 

 besides being used as a masticatory, constituted an ingredient in the 

 Mithridatic antidote, f and in the Theraica ; it was also infused or mace- 

 rated in wine, and was employed as an aromatic and tonic. The leaves 

 and bark of Cassia lignea yield an essential oil, which enters into the 

 composition of many of the odoriferous oils which are prepared by the 

 natives of India. It is extracted by boiling the bark of Tuj with a 

 quantity of fixed oil and water, during which process, the essential be- 

 comes incorporated with the fixed oil, to which it imparts its odour. 



The Romans were in the habit of preparing this perfume by mace- 

 rating both the leaf <pv\\ov } and the wood or bark ^v\o<pv\\ou ) i n fixed oil 

 in the manner which is practised by the natives. It is probable, how- 

 ever, that the leaves of other Indian plants, besides those of the Cinna- 

 mon and Cassia trees, were imported into Rome under the name of 

 Malabathrum, for the purpose of being used in perfumes or ointments. 

 Dioscorides describes Malabathrum as a plant found growing without 

 roots on the surface of marshes, and remarks that it is by feeding on its 

 leaves that the Onychia becomes aromatic. Pliny states that this kind 

 of Malabathrum is more odoriferous than saffron : that it is of a black 

 colour : rough to the touch, and of a salt taste : and that its flavor 

 ought to resemble that of Nard. He adds that the perfume which 

 Malabathrum or the leaf yields, when it is boiled in wine surpasses all 

 others 4 Malabathrum, in all probability, was a generic term, which 

 was applied to leaves of different plants rolled up in the manner which 

 is described in the text, and it may, therefore, be regarded as the name, 



* Art. Malabathrum et Foliatum. Lexicon Universale, Hoffman, A. D. 1698. 

 t Vide Celsus de Medicina, Lib. V. Chap. XXTII. 

 J Pliny. Lib. XII. C. XXVI. 



