AMju]°yi',  i873*M'}   Gleanings  from  the  European  Journals.  313 
ing,  the  water  is  removed  by  pressure,  the  tallow  again  fused  and  pre- 
served in  well- covered  earthen  vessels. — Ibid.,  March,  510. 
Ammoniaeum. — An  inquiry  of  some  interest  has  been  started  by 
Mr.  D.  Hanbury  into  the  original  source  of  ammoniaeum.  Diosco- 
rides,  in  the  first  century,  describes  it  as  coming  from  "  the  parts 
about  Gyrene,"  and  near  the  temple  of  Ammon,  from  which  it  may 
have  derived  its  name.  Some  ammoniaeum  still  reaches  this  country 
at  times  from  Morocco,  and  is  probably  of  the  same  botanical  origin 
as  that  first  described  by  Dioscorides  and  others.  This  gum,  however, 
is  very  inferior  to,  and  indeed  differs  from  the  ordinary  Persian  am- 
moniaeum, so  much  so,  that  certain  writers,  Pereira,  Guibourt,  and 
others,  have  concluded  that  the  ammoniaeum  referred  to  in  earlier 
times  was  not  the  same  as  we  know,  or  that  it  had  been  erroneously 
attributed  to  Africa.  Mr.  Hanbury,  however,  has  discovered  that  a 
better  quality,  more  nearly  corresponding  to  the  usual  ammoniaeum, 
is  obtained  in  Morocco,  and  that  it  is  both  consumed  in  the  Empire 
and  finds  its  way  to  Egypt  and  Arabia.  This  traffic  he  believes  to 
have  been  very  ancient,  and  as  London  brokers  now  call  the  Moroc- 
can product  "  ammoniaeum,'"  there  does  not  seem  to  be  any  matter 
for  astonishment  that  th|  ancient  writers  should  have  confused  the 
two  gums.  In  Jackson's  account  of  the  Empire  of  Morocco  he  de- 
scribes a  sort  of  ammoniaeum  produced  by  a  giant  fennel  called 
Feshook.  The  gum  exudes  from  the  stem  in  consequence  of  the 
puncture  of  a  beetle,  and,  falling  to  the  ground,  becomes  contami- 
nated with  earth,  for  which  reason  it  does  not  suit  the  London  mar- 
ket;  but  it  is  used  in  all  parts  of  the  country  for  cataplasms  and  fu- 
migations. Following  up  Mr.  Hanbury 's  inquiries,  Mr.  John  Moss 
has  made  a  chemical  examination  of  the  African  ammoniaeum,  and 
shows  the  results  in  the  following  table,  which,  for  comparison,  he 
places  side  by  side  with  an  analysis  of  Persian  ammoniaeum  by 
Hagen  : — 
African  Ammoniaeum.  Persian  Ammoniaeum.  (Hagen.) 
(Moss.)  Resin,       .        .        .  68-0 
Resin,  .  .  .  67-76  Gum,  .  .  .  19-3 
Gum,        .        .  *  9-014      Gluten,     ...  5-4 
Water  and  Volatile  Oil,  4-29  j  Extractive,  .  .  1*6 
Bassorin  and  insoluble  Sand,        .        .        .  2*3 
matter,    .        .        .      18-85        Volatile  Oil  and  Water,  2-8 
99-914  100-0 
—  Chemist  and  Druggist — Pharm.  Journ.  March  22,  1873. 
