34 
one of its synonymes. It is thought also to be " the sweet 
cane," and " the rich aromatic reed from a far country," of 
Scripture; where it is spoken of as costly, and as applied to 
sacred uses. There is no plant which more closely coincides 
with every thing that is required; that is, correspondence 
in description; analogy to S^ivo;; the possession of remark- 
able fragrance and stimulant properties ; being costly and 
the produce of a far country; than the plant which yields 
the fragrant grass-oil of Namur (Cal. Med. Trans, vol. 1. 
p. 367). This oil has been already described by Mr. 
Hatchett, (On the Spikenard of the Ancients), who refers 
it to Andropogon Iwaranciisa. It is derived, however, 
as appears by specimens in my possession, from a different 
plant; to which, believing it to be a new species, I have 
given the name of Andropogon Calamus Aromaticus. 
It has frequently excited surprise, that the Arabs, so 
long a nation of warriors, and warriors hostile to lite, 
rature, should so rapidly have become both the patrons 
and cultivators of science. Study of the originals, how- 
ever, soon revealed that the light with which they so 
long shone, was borrowed from a Western source. But 
it was to be expected, that any people of the East 
would display some scintillations of genius, even though 
lighting; their torches at the declining sun of Grecian 
science, as they had lent some of the earliest rays to assist 
its early rising. And accordingly we find that the Arabs 
have received credit for advancing several of the sciences, 
as well as that which is to be the object of our studies. 
Knowing, as we now do, the laws which regulate the 
Geographical distribution of plants, and how much some 
families are confined to particular latitudes and climates; 
we cannot but observe, in examining the accessions made to 
Materia Medica by the Arabs of Bagdad, that many of the 
separate substances now known to be the produce of 
