104 
of India, as Serpentine, Soapstone, &c, and many 
others, which are often mere varieties of one another, but 
have peculiar medical properties ascribed to each, are 
produced in various parts of the Primary and Trap forma- 
tions of Central and Peninsular India. They will afford 
ample employment to those who, acquainted with the 
mineralogy of the country, and the names of the different 
substances in the various languages of the East, will 
endeavour to identify those said to be procured from India, 
of several of which native names are given in Pliny, lib. 37; 
as sacal, sandaracus, sangenon, sacon, &c. It would be 
interesting to ascertain, whether Tabosheer was known to 
the ancients, as it has from early times been employed in 
medicine by the Hindoos. The Arabic name is derived 
from Sans. Twak-kshira. The latter part of this com- 
pound is evidently the same as that mentioned in p. 36, as 
syr.-diudar, which Professor Wilson informs me is Sans. 
khir, kshir or chir, and means milk, milky juice or extract.* 
In investigating the history of any subject among ancient 
nations, it is to be expected that the materials for in- 
quiry will become fewer and more obscure, the higher we 
ascend. To this, as is well known, there is an exception 
in the accounts of India in the works of the ancients, 
for we find the references frequent, and the information both 
more original and correct, if we consult the works of the 
Greeks who wrote prior even to the time of Pliny and Galen. 
• To do justice to the above subject of identifying the mineral, vegetable, 
and animal products, which were known to the Greeks and Romans, 
would require much more time and means than I at present possess ; but 
it is hoped that others may be induced to pursue the subject. I regret 
that while these sheets are passing through the press, I have not had 
access to my own MSS., which may, perhaps, form the foundation of ■ 
future work on the Materia Medica of the East. In the mean time, I 
have been chiefly indebted for the various oriental names to the works of 
Carey, Roxburgh, and Ainslie, except where the obligations are separately 
acknowledged. 
