""Vcl^lmr-}  Radix  Galangce.  455 
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.  * 
This  distinction  is  perfectly  correct.  The  Greater  Galangal,  which 
is  termed  Radix  galangm  majo7ns^  is  yielded  by  Alpinia  galanga^ 
Willd.,  a  plant  of  Java  ;t  the  lesser,  called  Radix  galangce  minoris 
or  simply  Radix  galangce,  is  derived,  as  we  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  AvMo,  khanlanjan ;  whether  that  word  maybe  a 
corruption  of  the  Chinese  name  liang-hiang,  signifying  mild  ginger, 
I  must  leave  it  to  others  to  decide. 
Let  me  say  a  few  words  regarding  the  uses  of  galangal.  As  a 
medicine,  the  manifold  virtues  formerly  ascribed  to  it  must  be  ig- 
nored ;  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  con- 
siderable parcels  offered  in  the  public  drug  sales  of  London. §  The 
chief  consumption,  however,  is  not  in  England,  but  in  E,ussia.||  It 
is  there  used  for  a  variety  of  purposes,  as  for  flavoring  the  liquor 
called  nastoika.  The  drug  is  also  employed  by  brewers,  and  to  im- 
part a  pungent  flavor  to  vinegar,  a  use  noticed  by  Pou^et^f  so  long 
"  Colloquios  dos  Siraples  e  drogas  lie  cousas  iiiedicinais  da  India,"  Goa, 
1563,  Colloquio  24. 
t  Maranta  Gala7iga,  Linn,,  Sp.  PL  and  Swartz,  Obs.  Bot. 
X  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  ^. 
Khulinjan,  has  a  rhizome  much  resembling  the  Lesser  Galangal  of  China. 
§  Three  hundred  bags,  each  112  lbs.,  imported  from  Whampoa,  were  offered 
for  sale  by  Messrs.  Lewis  and  Peat,  27  Oct.,  1870.  The  quantity  was  not 
thought  remarkable  ;  and  I  am  assured  that  a  single  buyer  will  sometimes  pur- 
chase such  a  lot  at  one  time  for  shipment  to  the  continent. 
II  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 
Fliickiger,  who,  on  this  as  on  other  occasions,  has  kindly  offered  me  valuable 
suggestions. 
^  "Histoire  des  Drogues,"  Paris,  1694,  fob,  part  1,  p.  64. 
