88 CHRONOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 



According to Beckmann, the nigrum indicum of Vitruvius, Pliny, 

 and Paulus iEgineta, is India i?ik ; and indeed, Pliny xxxv. 25, dis- 

 tinctly speaks of a kind of ink imported from India. Notwithstanding 

 the name, India ink is properly a Chinese manufacture. 



In Egypt, according to Forskal, the Gomphrcena globosa is called 

 " ambar ;" a word not unlike the amaranthus of Tibullus iii. 4, and 

 Philostratus ; and indeed, the description of the " amaranto" by Pliny 

 xxi. 23, seems to correspond. The plant, as appears from Rumphius 

 and Rheede, was derived from India. 



The ErGorBioN discovered by Juba on Mount Atlas (mentioned by 

 Pliny xxv. 38), according to the received opinion and the description 

 by Leo African us, is a species of cacti-form Euphorbia which seems 

 to be peculiar to Western Barbary. Corresponding species, however, 

 are found in Southern Africa and in Hindostan. The drug obtained 

 from this plant, is noticed by Dioscorides, Galen, Aetius, Paulus 

 JEgineta, and the Arab medical writers. 



The "succinum indicum containing lizards" of Archelaus and Pliny 

 xxxvii. 11, is clearly gum copal ; derived of course originally from 

 Equatorial Africa. 



In " A. D. 14," the accession of Tiberius, the second Roman Empe- 

 ror, took place. His name in hieroglyphic characters has been found 

 at Philse, Esneh, Karnak, and Dendera : he continued the temple at 

 Debot in Nubia. 



The zingiber of Celsus, Dioscorides, and Pliny, is clearly ginger 

 (Amomum zingiber) ; and it will be observed, that the Latin name 

 indicates the commercial source. — Cailliaud found "ginger rare at 

 Quamamil (on the Bahr el Abiad), brought principally from Abys- 

 sinia, and called by the negroes ' zymbane :' " at Zanzibar, however, 

 the roots are imported from the Comoro Islands; and they may 

 have first reached Egypt from this ultimate source, and by the inland 

 route. 



The aloe of Celsus, Dioscorides, Pliny, and Plutarch, is admitted 

 to be the drug aloes; mentioned as "imported from India," though 

 of course, derived originally from Socotra and the Somali country. — 

 Living plants of the A. vulgaris, were seen by Sibthorp in Cyprus ; 

 and by Forskal and Delile in gardens at Cairo. 



The ltcium of Celsus iv. 4 and 3, Dioscorides, Pliny, Galen. Oriba- 

 sius, and Paulus iEgineta, may be compared with " myilkynia," the 

 modern Greek name of Berberis Creiica. Alpinus (Exot. i. 2) inclines 



