PRODUCTION  OF  SCAMMONY  NEAR  SMYRNA. 
141 
blown  into  it  by  the  high  winds  prevalent  in  summer.  The  sap 
flows  freely  early  in  the  morning  and  late  in  the  evening,  but 
ceases  during  the  hottest  part  of  the  day.  One  plant  will  not 
generally  fill  a  shell,  but  it  does  sometimes  happen  that  a  good 
root  will  fill  two  or  three ;  in  such  latter  case  the  peasant  removes 
the  first  as  soon  as  it  is  full  and  places  another,  and  so  on  until  he 
perceives  that  the  root  is  nearly  drained.  The  quantity  afforded 
by  one  root  varies  according  to  soil,  position,  and  age.  In  some 
districts  one  hundred  roots  produce  but  ten  grains  of  scammony, 
in  others  the  average  of  each  root  is  one  dram,  and  in  a  good  soil 
a  four-year  plant  will  produce  two  drams.  I  have  heard  of  one 
root,  four  inches  in  diameter,  producing  twelve  drams  of  scam- 
mony, but  those  which  I  have  cut  did  not  produce  over  one  dram, 
and  some  afforded  none  at  all.  The  shells  are  usually  left  till  the 
evening,  when  they  are  collected  and  the  cut  part  of  the  root  is 
scraped  with  a  knife  to  remove  the  dry  or  partially  dry  drops  of 
scammony  which  form  after  the  first  part  has  run  off.  These  drops 
are  called  by  the  peasants  Kaimakov  cream,  while  the  sap  which 
flows  into  the  shell  is  termed  the  y^a  or  milk.  The  peasants  then 
empty  the  shells  (from  which  they  carefully  blow  the  dust)  into 
copper  vessels,  and  work  up  the  drops  scraped  from  the  roots 
together  with  the  contents  of  the  shells.  This  is  done  with  a 
knife,  and  continued  until  the  whole  is  so  well  mixed  that  it  forms 
a  string  when  run  off  the  knife.  If  it  be  too  dry  then  water  is 
added,  but  in  that  case  it  must  be  done  during  the  hottest  part  of 
the  day,  when  Fahrenheit's  thermometer  stands  at  from  88°  to  90° 
in  the  shade,  otherwise  it  will  not  amalgamate  properly.  This  is 
the  pure  Lachryma  Scammony.  That  which  the  Greeks  collect 
is  far  better  than  that  collected  by  the  Turks  ;  the  latter,  with 
their  usual  apathy,  do  not  trouble  themselves  to  screen  the  shells 
from  the  dust,  nor  do  they  blow  off  any  of  that  which  may  have 
accumulated  upon  the  hardened  surface  of  the  scammony  in  the 
shell.  They  show  equal  carelessness  by  scraping  the  roots  too 
hard  to  remove  the  drops,  and  frequently  allow  small  pieces  of  the 
root  to  fall  into  the  receiving  vessels. 
Scammony  is  never  sold  in  shells.  When  dry  it  wrould  be  diffi- 
cult to  empty  them  :  the  peasants,  however,  frequently  keep  a  few 
for  their  own  use,  as  this  drug  is  much  employed  by  them  for  the 
purpose  of  staunching  blood  and  healing  wounds.    They  also  use 
