ON SILPHIUM, OR ASSAFffiTIDA. 
591 
With reference to assafoetida, it seems a noteworthy fact, that musk and 
bitter almonds have the peculiar property of removiug the odour of this sub¬ 
stance, with what injury, however, to its therapeutic action we are not yet in a 
position to state. 
Mixed intimately with assafoetida, camphor makes a very firm and permanent 
pill-mass, and its odour is masked by the gum-resin. 
W ith reference to the therapeutic action of assafoetida, we notice two curious 
circumstances; the first is from M. Leschenault’s travels in Hindustan, the 
second is a new fact for our domestic economy :— 
“ When a woman has been delivered of a child (in Karipai) she is left for three or 
four days without food or drink; she takes only assafoetida, a little spirit and betel of 
extra strength ; she in vain begs for a little water to quench her devouring thirst, but 
is refused without pity. The child is not suckled during these few days, but receives 
a little honey ; often mother and child, the traveller quieth/ remarks, succumb to this 
treatment.” .... 
“In order to preserve our domestic animals from the flies, etc., which often torment 
them, almost to madness, it is sufficient to moisten the exposed parts of the animal with 
a liquid composed of assafoetida 1 oz., dissolved in vinegar 1 oz., and water 2 oz. Thus 
perfumed, they will travel surrounded by swarms of insects, yet without being in the 
least inconvenienced by any one of them.” 
With regard to the chemistry of assafoetida, our author seems to have directed 
special attention to the resin, which he terms “ silphine.” lie states that:— 
“A part of this silphine, which is of a white colour reddening in the air, is insoluble 
in chloroform or ether. 
Nitrosilphine is formed by the action of concentrated nitric acid on silphine; the ope¬ 
ration should be conducted with great care. Its colour is pale yellow, with no smell of 
assafoetida; it is soluble in water, alcohol, and ether; insoluble in chloroform and ben¬ 
zine ; soluble in alkalies, giving a bright orange colour, and also in tincture of iodine, 
though without anv chemical union with this metallic oil. Sulphuric and hydrochloric 
acid give with it negative reactions.” 
The division of the book that shows the most study is the chapter that gives 
at length the history of the assafoetida and the plant producing it. 
In tracing this gum-resin from the heroic ages to the present day, we find 
clear proofs that our assafoetida is identical with the silphium of the 
Greeks, first known about 608 b.c. Hence it is proposed to restore, in place 
of that of assafoetida, the old name of silphium to this drug. We trace it from 
the times of the Greeks and Romans, through the middle ages, and the Arab 
school of medicine, down to the present day. The plants that yield it now are 
the same that produced it in ancient days,—not the Ferula assafoetida of Hope, 
nor the Thapsia Silphium of Yiviani, but several other plants, especially the 
Narthex assafoetida of Falconer, and the Assafoetida Disgunensis of Ksempfer, 
whose description agrees so well with the excellent one left us by Theophrastus. 
The first appearance of the plant producing the silphium, or assafoetida, was, 
according to Theophrastus, in the garden of the Hesperides, in the district 
where stood, afterwards Cyrene. 
Later on, we read of this substance :— 
“ The name of the silphium became the symbol of riches : it was the principal staple 
of commerce between Cyrene and Athens ; its stalk was considered a present worthy of 
both gods and men. The sycophant of Aristophanes says “that he would not change 
his life even for the silphium of Battus ” (King of Cyrene about 616 b.c.), and in the 
‘ Knights ’ we find these words, to mark an illustrious family:—“ Do you not know that 
they have been adjudged worthy of receiving the silphium ?” Each year a stalk of this 
plant was forwarded to the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, and laws were passed at Cyrene 
to regulate its collection and distribution. 
“ The Romans held it in the highest esteem, and when the country around Cyrene 
