452 
Radix  Galangce. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Phaem. 
t     Oct.  1, 1871. 
When  the  solution  is  evaporated  until  a  strong  pellicle  is  formed,  on 
cooling  it  is  converted  into  a  mass  of  acicular  crystals  of  a  pearly 
aspect,  which  contain  60  per  ct.  of  santonine. 
The  santonate  of  soda  is  soluble  in  1|  its  weight  of  water  (20°  C), 
and  has  a  slightly  bitter  taste. 
Merida^  August  14,  1871. 
HISTORICAL  NOTES  ON  THE  RADIX  GALANG^  OF  PHAR» 
MAOY. 
By  Daniel  Hanbury,  Esq.,  F.R.S.  and  P.L.S.- 
In  discovering  and  describing  the  plant  which  yields  the  Radix 
Galangce  minoris  of  pharmacy,  Dr.  Hance  has  added  an  interesting 
chapter  to  the  history  of  a  substance  which  for  many  centuries  has 
been  an  object  of  trade  between  Europe  and  the  East.  Galangal 
does  not,  indeed,  possess  properties  which  can  claim  for  it  the  rank 
of  an  important  medicine,  being  simply  a  pungent  aromatic  of  the 
nature  of  ginger  ;  but  it  has  so  long  held  a  place  in  the  pharmaco- 
poeias of  Europe,  and  enters  into  so  many  ancient  receipts,  that  I 
need  hardly  apologize  for  offering  to  the  Linnean  Society  a  few  notes 
on  its  pharmacological  history. 
Galangal  was  apparently  unknown  to  the  ancient  Greeks  and 
Romans  ;  at  least  no  mention  of  it  can  be  found  in  the  classical 
authors.  Its  introduction  into  Europe  was  due  to  the  Arabians,  in 
whose  writings  it  is  noticed  at  a  very  early  period. 
Thus  Ibn  Khurddbah,  an  Arab  geographer  who  served  under  the 
Khalif  Mutammid,  A.D.  869-885,  has  left  some  information  respect- 
ing China,  after  which  he  speaks  of  the  country  of  Sila,  which  exports- 
.  .  .  musk,  aloes  \i.  e.  aloes-wood],  camphor,  ....  porcelain, 
satin,  cinnamon  [cassia],  and  galangalf 
The  celebrated  geographer  Edrisi,  who  wrote  a.d.  1154,  observes 
of  Aden,  that  it  is  the  port  for  Scinde,  India  and  China,  from  which 
last  country  are  brought  musk,  aloes-wood,  pepper,  cardamoms,  cin- 
"  Reprint  from  the  Linnean  Society's  Journal,  xiij,  communicated  by  the 
author. 
t"Le  Livre  des  Routes  et  des  Provinces,  par  Ibn  Khordadbeh,  traduit  et 
annote  par  C.  Barbier  de  Meynard,"  Journ.  Asiatique,  ser.  vi.  tome  v.  (1865),. 
,  p.  294. 
