February 8, 1873.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
G25 
mencement of the ninth century, mentions two 
kinds of ammoniacum, the best sort of which was pro¬ 
duced from the root of a plant found in Crete ; and an 
inferior kind of which he says, “ Sed illud quod con- 
tinet terram et lapides, nominat chironia et defertur 
a terra qum dicitur Monacon et est succus plantoe, 
similis plantae galbani in similitudine sua et nascit 
ibi.’’ This description agrees with the present 
Morocco product, and Monacon may be an early 
name for that country. It is observable that Sera- 
pion calls ammoniacum, ‘raxach ’ ; and that 4 assach,’ 
4 ushak,’ and ‘ osliac’ are severally employed by 
Arabian and Persian writers to designate the gum. 
These approach ‘ fasogh ’ and ‘ feshook,’ the modern 
Moorish names. 
Alkeptum.—T his terebintliinate gum-resin I have 
failed to identity, nor do I know the uses to which it 
is put. It is probably the product oiPistacia atlan- 
tica. 
Miscellanea. 
Papaveracece. 
Benaman.— Pap aver dubium, L. — Capsules, etc. 
Used as a diaphoretic. 
Tamaricacece. 
Tacout. — Tamarix articulata, Valil. — Galls. 
Used for tanning, and shipped for this purpose to 
Algiers. 
Terebinthacets. 
Elleg. — Pistachia atlantica, L.? —Pistacliia galls. 
Produced in Showia. Used for diarrhoea, and also 
as a cosmetic. 
Hassoul. —Is a mixture of stalks, buds, etc. Used 
for cleaning woollen clothes. I obtained it in the 
city of Morocco. 
Aarantiacece. 
Elm a deltchien. — Citrus Species \? —Orange-flower 
water. This, the quality of which is good, was 
brought from Terodant, a town three days journey 
south of Mogador, which is unvisited by Europeans 
on account of the fanatic nature of its inhabitants. 
Rosewater is brought from the same place, and both 
articles are largely used by the Moorish ladies. 
Vessels like that represented in the engraving are 
used to contain these waters. They are made of 
hammered copper tinned over, and are of the shape 
of half an egg, having the top part depressed, to 
which part a handle is attached. These vessels are 
inches in height by 71 inches diameter at the 
base, and contain about a gallon. It is curious to 
find such peculiarly shaped and well-made vessels, 
probably formed of native copper, employed in this 
way in this rude country. 
Animal Substance. 
Hambeh. — Amberbris. — Strangely enough, this 
substance is brought to Mogador in considerable 
quantities by the Timbuctoo caravans from the in¬ 
terior of Africa. It probably finds its way there 
from the west coast. It is also obtained from sperm 
whales, which drift in dead on the Morocco coast. 
One of these whales has been thus procured at Casa 
Blanca in each of the three years just past. All 
contained ambergris, and the last an unusually large 
quantity. It was purchased by a Jew, who, it is 
said, sold it for ,£3000. Much of it was exported to 
London. At Mogador it sells for about £20 per 
pound. Most of the well-off Moors have ambergris 
in their houses. They use it in green tea as a 
flavour, and one of the greatest compliments paid to 
a guest is to present him with a cup of this curious 
mixture. 
This somewhat extensive list does not pretend to 
be exhaustive, and yet it certainly contains a large 
proportion of the drugs commonly employed by the 
Moors. It will be observed that while a great many 
natural orders of plants are represented, there is a 
great preponderance of the Labiate order. I re¬ 
member when travelling in Asia Minor, in a some¬ 
what similar climate and country to Morocco, having 
been frequently struck with the number and diver¬ 
sity of this group, by whose fragrance the air was 
charged with odours. 
Out of the foregoing list consisting of sixty-one 
articles, each having a distinctive Moorish name, 
more than half are well known and commonly used 
substances amongst ourselves, or else are obviously 
derived from plants so closely allied to those in 
common use as to be practically the same. About 
a fourth are on the same principle from plants known 
to us, but not in common use, and about the remain¬ 
ing fourth are derived from plants either not at all 
in use, or else as yet unidentified. The practical re¬ 
sults are not at present important, but the members 
of a society engaged in such patient investigations 
as the Pharmaceutical Society will admit that know¬ 
ledge is in itself important. To place the alleged 
virtues of a new drug on a secure basis, is a work of 
time and labour. It is not improbable that Morocco 
may contribute out of its undeveloped resources some 
agents of great value to our more enlightened materia 
medica. It is my intention to continue these inves¬ 
tigations by trials of the drugs at present in my 
possession, and also by obtaining new ones, on a 
second visit to the country or through my corre¬ 
spondents in Morocco. On a future occasion I may 
again ask the privilege of laying the results before 
this Society. 
[ The discussion upon this paper is printed at p. 638. 
