OF SCRIPTURE. 
109 
tribe of Amaryllidea would come in with as 
much propriety as the little common Ama- 
ryllis Lutea. Upon the whole, therefore, we 
think it presumptuous to assert that the vari- 
ous texts allude to the same lily, when, as we 
have shown, distinct habits are attributed to 
them ; still more so to assume that the alleged 
single lily of the Old Testament should be 
identified with the " lilies of the field" men- 
tioned by our Saviour on the Mount as more 
glorious than Solomon ; and, worse than all, 
to fix upon an insignificant scentless species 
of Amaryllis as the one so favoured. 
We could give a long catalogue of the flowers 
claimed by different writers as the lily of 
Solomon, and all as unlike each other as may 
be ; but Solomon's lily of the valley, and 
growing by the waters, and Esdras's lily of 
the mountains, and Christ's lilies of the field, 
have no analogy whatever, except that our 
Saviour comprises the whole tribe ; and 
although we admire the author's first choice, 
the Lilium Candidum, before all others, and 
blame her for abandoning it for Sprengel's 
Narcissus Calathinus, which she appears to 
do, yet we maintain that our Saviour's words 
justify us in concluding that he comprised 
every flower that was known to his hearers 
by the name of Lily. We have been blaming 
people for discussing matters of no import- 
ance, and yet have fallen chin deep into 
the same error. However, we will give one 
more extract from the work, and we have 
done : — 
" The Spikenard of the Scriptures, and of 
the Greek and Roman writers, had long been 
forgotten as a living plant, if indeed it was 
ever known excepting as an Indian drug, until 
our own days. 
" Clusius first figured the dried Spikenard 
of the shops, and the figure was copied by 
Gerard in his Herbal. This cut so exactly 
corresponds with the description given of the 
Spikenard by the Arabian and Indian writers 
on medicine, as to afford a strong presumption 
that the drug described, and the figure given, 
belong to one and the same plant. The ap- 
pearance of the drug is compared to a bundle 
of the tails of ermines, but not so dark in 
colour ; and such, it appears, is the figure. 
" When Sir William Jones went to India, 
he was naturally anxious to promote whatever 
science and whatever learning could throw 
light on that interesting, and then compara- 
tively unknown, country. The books of the 
ancient classical writers were full of references 
to Indian odours, and spices, and drugs : but 
what trees produced them, and what plants or 
roots might contribute to their number or 
efficacy, were questions to which few plausible, 
and fewer true, answers could be returned. 
. " One of the first botanical inquiries of Sir 
William was concerning the Spikenard of the 
ancients. From both Hindoo and Mussulman 
physicians, he received descriptions agreeing 
remarkably with the figure of Clusius; and 
was told that in the Indian bazaars it was 
commonly sold by the name of Jatamansi, 
which means a lock of hair, to which the dried 
Spikenard has a stronger resemblance than 
even to a bundle of ermines' tails. Sir Wil- 
liam applied his philological skill in tracing 
the various names of Spikenard through the 
Greek, Arabian, Persian, Sanscrit, and several 
vernacular dialects, so as to satisfy himself and 
others that Spikenard and Jatamansi were 
one. In consequence of his conviction, he 
published the following opinion in the Asiatic 
Researches, vol. iv. p. 117. 
" ' I am persuaded that the true Nard is a 
species of valerian produced in the most re- 
mote and hilly parts of India, such as Nepal, 
Morang, and Butan, near which Ptolemy fixes 
its native soil. The commercial agents of the 
Deva Rajah call it also Pampi ; and by their 
account the dried specimens, which look like 
the tails of ermines, rise from the ground re- 
sembling ears of green wheat, both in form 
and colour; a fact which perfectly accounts 
for the names, Stachys, Spina, Sumbul, and 
KJmshah, which the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, 
and Persians have given to the drug, though 
it is not properly a spike, and not merely 
a root, but the whole plant, which the natives 
gather for sale, before the radical leaves, 
of which the fibres only remain after a few 
months, have unfolded themselves from the 
base of the stem.' 
" The question now arose as to what the 
Jatamansi could be, and what part of India 
produced it, as it certainly was not brought 
to the market from any part of the coun- 
try at that time under the dominion of the 
British. 
" Taking Dioscorides for his guide, Sir 
William caused inquiries to be made in the 
neighbourhood of Butan, and accordingly 
found that great quantities of the Jatamansi 
were imported from that country, that the 
native government was so sensible of its im- 
portance that it did not allow any plant of it 
to be carried out of its boundaries without 
especial permission from the Maharaja, and 
that it grew in a mountainous district. After 
some delay, and incurring considerable ex- 
pense, the chief of Butan permitted several 
baskets of roots to be sent to Calcutta; but 
they died by the way, nothing remaining but 
the little spikes like ermines' tails, which re- 
sembled the drugs of the shops. Some plants, 
however, believed to be the same, had been 
procured and saved by Mr. Burt, English re- 
sident at Gaya ; and he made a drawing, and 
sent it with a description to Sir William, which 
