146 THE SOURCES OF MUSK. 



full-grown animal ; but as many of the deer are killed when young, the 

 pods in the market do not perhaps contain, on an average, more than half 

 an ounce. In most of the Hill States the musk-deer is considered as royal 

 property. In some, the Rajahs keep men purposely to hunt it ; and in 

 Gurwhal a fine is imposed upon any Puharrie who is known to have sold a 

 musk-pod to a stranger, the Rajah receiving them in lieu of rent. Mu3k 

 is in demand in nearly every part of the civilised world. The imports into 

 the United Kingdom in the four latest years of which we have any official 

 returns were — 1858, 9,489 oz. ; 1856, 17,580 oz. ; 1857, 10,728 oz. ; and 

 1858, 10,957 oz. The computed value of the imports in the last-named 

 year was £11,733. The musk-bags or sacs, after the grain-musk has been 

 extracted, are used by perfumers to prepare essence of musk. It is stated 

 that a single grain of musk can constantly fill the air of a large apartment 

 with a sensible impregnation for many years, without its weight being per- 

 ceptibly diminished ; and one part can communicate its odour to 3,000 

 parts of an inodorous powder. It has not been ascertained upon what 

 musk depends for its peculiar properties. It is conjectured that a 

 kind of putrefaction goes on which evolves the peculiar odour. Moisture 

 seems to favour this ; and musk which, when dry, yields little scent, 

 becomes powerful when moistened. Musk is one of the most pervading of 

 all odours, and heightens the aroma of many other perfumes. 



Gilbert says : — " The hair on the summit of the head of the European 

 bison or auroch gives out an odour of musk, particularly in winter, but 

 this odour is lost by degrees in the domesticated state." 



Brookes, in his System of Xatural History, states that several Brazilian 

 monkeys smell very pleasantly of musk. 



The musk-rat of India, Sorex Indicus (S. myosurus, Pallas), diffuses a 

 most powerful odour of musk, which impregnates everything that is 

 touched by it. It has been alleged that even the wine in a well-corked 

 bottle, over which the animal has run, has been rendered unfit for use in 

 consequence of the flavour imparted to it. 



The European musk-rat {Mygale moscJiata, Castor moschatus, Linn.) is 

 met with about the river Wolga and the adjacent lakes, from Novgorod to 

 Saratov. The flesh of the pikes and Siluri, which feed upon it, becomes 

 so impregnated with the flavour of musk in consequence, as not to be 

 eatable. From the region about the tail of this animal a sort of musk 

 resembling the genuine sort is expressed ; and the skins and tails are put 

 into chests and wardrobes among clothes for the purpose of preserving them 

 from moths. These skins were also supposed to guard the wearers of them 

 from fevers and pestilence. The price at Orenburg for the skins and tails 

 was formerly twenty copecs (about 7d.) per hundred. They were so 

 common near Nischnei-Novgorod, that the peasants were wont to bring 500 

 each to market, where they sold a hundred for a rouble (about 3s. 6d.). 



HI. Alligator Musk. — Chief Justice Temple, in a recent lecture, ob- 

 serves :— " A few years ago, I stated in a letter published in the Journal of 

 the Society of Arts, that there was an odoriferous substance in the axillary 



