140 
PRODUCTION  OF    SCAMMONY  NEAB  SMYRNA 
portion  of  water,  which,  ^vhen  dry,  forms  a  scammony  of  a  greyish- 
black,  and  of  less  specific  gravity. 
The  districts  in  which  scammony  is  collected  are  widely  extend- 
ed. The  peasants  of  Smyrna  and  of  the  neighboring  villages 
extend  their  peregrinations  to  Adalia  on  the  South,  and  Brussa,  or 
Mount  Olympus,  on  the  North,  and  some  have  been  as  far  as  An- 
gora. Sochia  or  the  district  of  the  river  Mceander  produces  a 
large  quantity,  but  Kirkagatch  and  Demirgik,  in  the  plain  of  My- 
sia,  furnish  the  largest  quantity  of  all.  But  little  comes  from 
Konieh  or  Kutaya.  The  only  inferior  pure  scammony  that  I  know 
is  produced  at  Melissa  or  Melas. 
I  am  not  aware  of  any  scammony  being  produced  at  Samos, 
nor  do  the  peasants  of  that  island  know  of  any  plants  existing 
there,  though  it  is  probable  that  a  few  may  be  found.  Some  of 
the  Samians  collect  the  drug,  but  they  cross  over  to  the  mainland 
and  work  in  the  neighborhood  of  Sochia,  on  the  Moeander, 
Scala  Xuova,  and  Ephesus.  They  usually  carry  it  for  sale  to 
Smyrna,  but  necessarily  sell  it  in  Samos.  That  which  Tcurnefort 
saw  must  have  been  highly  adulterated  with  flour  or  starch.* 
During  the  summer  months  the  scammony  is  collected  by  the 
Greek  and  Turkish  peasants  while  the  plant  is  in  flower.  They 
commence  operations  by  clearing  away  the  bushes  which  shelter 
the  plants  ;  the  soil  is  removed  from  the  root  to  the  depth  of  three 
or  four  inches,  the  root  is  then  cut  through  in  a  slanting  direction 
with  a  sickle-shaped  knife,  about  one  inch  to  one  inch  and  a  halt 
below  the  crown;  a  muscle  shell  is  immediately  stuck  into  the 
root  under  the  the  lower  part,  and  the  sap  or  milk  runs  into  it. 
A  stone  is  then  placed  to  windward  of  the  root  to  protect  the 
shell  from  the  loose  earth  and  dust,  which  might  otherwise  be 
*  Note  by  Mr.  Daniel  Hanbury. — This  is  in  reply  to  an  enquiry  ad- 
dressed to  the  author,  respecting  the  scammony  of  Samos.  It  appears  to 
me,  however,  that  very  undue  stress  has  been  laid  upon  the  brief  remark  of 
Tournefort  regarding  this  supposed  variety  of  Scammony.  Tournefort  says, 
c:  nous  ne  vimes  po,s  la  plante  d'ou  elle  se  tireV  {Relation  d'un  Voyage  dv. 
Levant.  Paris,  1717.  tome  L,  p.  411.) 
Farther,  it  seems  certain  from  information  communicated  to  me  by  Mr. 
Maltass,  that  scammony  is  collected  solely  from  Convolvulus  Scammonia. 
Linn.,  in  fact,  precisely  as  Sherard  slated  to  be  the  case,  see  Tractodus  it 
Materia  Medicd,  Paris.  1741,  tome  ii.,  p.  G67. — D,  H. 
