6 M0SCHU8 MOSCHIFERUS. 



conclusion from his own experiments. Thicman,* a Prussian 

 chemist, has given a very minute analysis both of the Tonquin and 

 Siberian musk. In 100 parts of the former he got carbonate of 

 ammonia, 10; wax, ; gluten, 50 ; albumen and membranes, 30; 

 muriate and carbonate of soda, 1 ; with traces of potass ; but he 

 was not" able to procure any essential oil. 



Musk is not confined solely to the animal we have been 

 describing, but exists, under various modifications, in several 

 others. It is found in small quantity in the Cape Gennett (Viverra 

 Genetta, L.J, and the odoriferous substance yielded by the Civet, is 

 in many respects analogous to musk. The flesh of some animals, 

 as the Pecaii, or Mexican Hog (Sus tajassu), and of the Musk Ox, 

 (Bos jjioscliatus) has a strong flavour of musk. Man himself, under 

 certain circumstances, gives out a smell of musk : Ilaller remarked 

 it in the perspiration ; Merat perceived it in the bile ; and 

 Cartheuser observed the analogy between some productions of musk 

 and the odorous part of urine. A great variety of plants, differing 

 widely from each other in their botanical characters, smell power- 

 fully ol musk. Among these are Centaurea moschata, Adoxa 7770s- 

 chatellii7a, Aster argopkyllus, Mimulus 777osckatus, and many others. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — As a medicine, musk is 

 held in high estimation in the eastern countries, and has now been 

 introduced in pretty general use among European practitioners, in 

 the treatment of the greater number of spasmodic affections, and 

 also in diseases of debility. The Greeks and Romans were not 

 acquainted with musk, even as a perfume ; the Arabian writers 

 first mention it about the eighth century, and its properties as a 

 medicine were not known before the time of Aetius. With respect 

 to its medical virtues, it is a powerful stimulant and antispasmodic, 

 promoting the secretions, raising the pulse without heating the 

 body, relieving spasm, and increasing the energy of the brain and 

 nervous system. By some practitioners it has been most highly 

 extolled as a very powerful agent for relieving the low delirium, 

 subsultus tendinum, hiccough, and other symptoms of a spasmodic 

 nature, which supervene on the more advanced stages of continued 

 and exanthematous fevers. It is, however, principally employed 



* Berlini.the Jahrbuch dcr Pharmacie, 1803, p. 100. 



