will not, for this purpose, select their descriptions of either 
the Cocoa or Betel-nut; Mace, Nutmeg, Tamarind, 
Cloves, or Cinnamon ; Agallochum, that is Agila or Eagle- 
and Sandal-woods ; Ginger, Cardamoms, or the different 
kinds of Pepper : nor even such medicinal articles as Seme- 
carpus Anacardium; Ipomcea ccerulea, called granum 
indicum ; or dund, the Croton Tiglium ; nor what would of 
itself be sufficient to prove that the Arabs had some other 
means than commerce, of acquiring a knowledge of Indian 
Materia Medica, though one of those which first roused my 
own attention to the subject : I mean the Deodar, Pinus 
Deodara, considered a discovery of modern times, but 
which is described by Avicenna under its Sanscrit name : 
where he says that deiudar, "est ex genere abhel (juniperus), 
que dicitur pinus Inda ; et syr diudar est ejus lac," that 
is, turpentine. As this tree grows at considerable eleva- 
tions in the interior of the Himalaya, it could only have 
been known to the Arabs through Hindoos, or their works. 
Instead of these I take the instance which has already 
been adduced by Dr. Friend, to prove that the later Greek 
authors, as Actuarius and Myrepsus, had access to some of 
the Arab works ; namely, the different kinds of Myro- 
balans, of which Dr. F. observes : " What Actuarius says 
of the composition of all these sorts, which is called Tryphala, 
or rather Tryphera parva, is exactly the same we meet with 
in Serapion and Mesue (whom he calls the barbarous wise 
men), and is recommended by them in the very same 
cases.'" (History of Medicine, 1. p. 273.) It is remarkable 
that not only are all the constituents of this preparation 
products of India, but the name of the compound itself is 
Sanscrit, and Sanscrit not only in use in ancient, but also 
in present times. Thus the three kinds of Myrobalans 
alluded to, the black, yellow, and Chebulic, are the produce 
of Terminalia Chebula; while the fourth, or Behera, is that 
