September 23,1S71.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
240 
In the fifteenth century galangal was evidently in 
•common use; for Saladinus, physician to one of the 
Princes of Tarentum, circa a.d. 1442-1458, reckons it 
among- the things necessaria et usitata which should he 
-found in the shop of every aromatarius .* * * § As might be 
'expected, it is included in all the older pharmacopoeias 
and antidotaria. 
Garcia I)'Orta, first physician to the Portuguese Vice¬ 
roy of India at Goa, and a resident in India for thirty 
years, is, I think, the first writer to point out (1563) 
that there are two sorts of galangal—the one, as he 
says, of smaller size and more potent virtues brought 
from China, the other a thicker and less aromatic rhizome 
produced in Java.f 
This distinction is perfectly correct. The Greater 
Galangal, which is termed Radix galangcc majoris is 
yielded by Alpinia Galanga , Yv r illd., a plant of Java ; j 
the lesser, called Radix galanga minor is or simply Radix 
r/alanga, is derived as wo now know, from the plant which 
Dr. Hance has described as A . officinarum. It is the 
latter drug alone that is at present found in European 
commerce. § 
The name galangal , galanga or garingal, Galgant in 
‘German, is derived from the Arabic khalanjdn ; whether 
that word may be a corruption of the Chinese name 
liang-kiang, signifying mild ginger , I rmist leave it to 
others to decide. 
Let me say a few words regarding the uses of galangal. 
A.s a medicine, the manifold virtues formerly ascribed to 
it must be ignored ; the drug is an aromatic stimulant, 
and might take the place of ginger, as indeed it does in 
-some countries. That it is still in use in Europe is evident 
from the exports from China and from the considerable 
pai-cels offered in the public drug sales of London. || The 
chief consumption, however, is not in England, but in 
.Russia.** It is there used for a variety of purposes, 
ms for flavouring the liqueur called nastoika. The drug 
is also employed by brewers, and to impart a pungent 
flavour to vinegar, a use noticed by Pomctf f so long 
ago as 1694. As a popular medicine and spice, it is 
much sold in Livonia, Estlionia, and in Central Russia; 
-and by the Tartars it is taken with tea. It is also in 
requisition in Russia as a cattle medicine; and all over 
Europe there is a small consumption of it in regular 
medicine. 
There is doubtless some quantity of galangal of both 
•sorts used in India. By a ‘Report on the External 
Commerce of the Presidency of Bombay for the year 
1865-66 ’ I find that there was imported into the port of 
Bombay of “ Galling all ” from China 520 cwt., from 
Penang, Singapore, the Straits of Malacca, and Siam 
70 cwt., and from ports in Malabar 834 cwt. Of the 
* ‘Compendium Aromatariorum;’ Bonon. 1488, fob 
t ‘ Colloquios dos Simples e drogas he cousas medicinais da 
India;’ Goa, 1563, Colloquio 24. 
X Maranta Galanga, Linn. Sp. Pi. and Swartz, Obs. 
Bot. 
§ Moodeen Sheriff, in his learned ‘ Supplement to the 
Pharmacopoeia of India’ (Madras, 1869), states that in the 
bazars of Hyderabad and in some other parts of India the 
rhizome of Alpinia calcarata, Rose., is sold as a sort of 
galangal; and that a species of Alpinia growing in gardens 
about Madras, which, conceiving it to be new to science, he 
has described and named as A. Khulinjan, has a rhizome 
much resembling the Lesser Galangal of China. 
|| Three hundred bags, each 112 lb., imported from Wham¬ 
poa were offered for sale by Messrs. Lewis and Peat, 27 Oct. 
1870. The quantity was not thought remarkable; and lam 
assured that a single buyer will sometimes purchase such a 
lot at one time for shipment to the continent. 
*'* Professor Regel, of St. Petersburg, and A. v. Bunge, of 
Dorpat, and Mr. Justus Eck, of London, have all obligingly 
supplied me with information as to the use of galangal in 
Russia. My thanks are also due to my friend Professor 
Pliiokiger, who on this, as on other occasions, has kindly 
•offered me valuable suggestions. 
ff ‘ Histoire des Drogues,’ Paris, 1694, fol., part 1, p. 64. 
total quantity (1424 cwt.), 716 cwt. was reshipped to tho 
Arabian and Persian Gulfs. 1 
According to Rondot, writing in 1848, the trade in 
tins drug is on the decline ;* and the statistics which I 
have examined tend strongly to show that this is tho 
fact. 
The foregoing notes may be thus summarized 
1 . Galangal -was noticed by the Arab geographer 
Ibn Khurdadbah in the ninth century as a production 
of the region which exports musk, camphor, and aloes- 
wood. 
_ 2 . It was used by the Arabians and later Greek phy¬ 
sicians, and was known in Northern Europe in the 
twelfth century. 
3. It was imported during the thirteenth century with 
other Eastern spices by way of Aden, the Red Sea, and 
Egypt, to Akka. in Syria, whence it was carried to other 
ports of the Mediterranean. 
4. Two forms of the drug were noticed by Garcia 
d’Orta in 1563 ; these are still found in commerce, and 
are derived respectively from Alpinia Galanga , Willd., 
and A. officinarum , Hance. 
5. Galangal is still used throughout Europe, but is 
consumed most largely in Russia. It is also used in 
India, and is shipped to ports in the Persian Gulf and 
Red Sea. 
SACCHAEATED TAE, OR SOLUBLE VEGETABLE 
TAR. 
BY M. A. BOUSSIX. 
The value of vegetable tar as a therapeutic agent is 
generally recognized, but hitherto, in consequence of the 
small extent to which it is soluble in water, its use has 
been limited. Many attempts have been made to secure 
a greater solubility, but this has only been obtained by 
the employment of alkalis,—that is to say, by saponifica¬ 
tion. But saponification undoubtedly modifies the ele¬ 
ments of the tar, and partly destroys its curative pro¬ 
perties. 
According to M. Adrian, “ these preparations do not 
correspond by their chemical composition to the thera¬ 
peutic properties that are expected in them,” and he 
states that he has found alkalis, as well as acids, to 
modify the resinous qualities that are the basis of the 
medicament. 
Dr. Jeannel has expressed a similar opinion. He says 
it is necessary that the tar should be emulsed by a neu¬ 
tral substance, since by so doing all the natural properties 
of the tar would bo preserved. 
Impressed with the correctness of this idea, M. Roussin 
sought to adapt to vegetable tar the same process by 
which he was able, on a former occasion to form an 
emulsion with balm of copaiba.f At that time he pro¬ 
posed to use sugar for facilitating the emulsion of copaiba 
in water, and as a corrective of tho repulsive taste of 
that substance. Sugar being a neutral substanco, with¬ 
out any chemical action capable of modifying the com¬ 
position or curative properties of medicinal substances; 
and daily associated without hesitation with all kinds of 
remedies. 
After several attempts this problem was resolved, and 
a complete solution of tho vegetable tar in water 
obtained. The emulsion of tar was effected by triturat¬ 
ing in a porcelain mortar, so as to obtain a homogeneous 
paste, purified tar, powdered sugar and powder of gum 
arabic. A small quantity of water was added to obtain 
an emulsion: it was then left to stand, and afterwards 
* ‘Commerce d’Exportation de la Chine; Baris, 1848 
p. 98. 
■j- ‘ Annales du Comite Medical des Bouckes-du-Rhone, t. v» 
p. 67. 
