part 20

(1877).

=History=—The word _sumbul_, which is Arabic and signifies _an ear_ or _spike_, is used as the designation of various substances, but especially of _Indian Nard_, the rhizome of _Nardostachys Jatamansi_ DC. Under what circumstances, or at what period, it came to be applied to the drug under notice, we know not. Nor are we better informed as to the history of sumbul root, which we have been unable to trace by means of any of the works at our disposal. All we can say is, that the drug was first introduced into Russia about the year 1835 as a substitute for musk, that it was then recommended as a remedy for cholera, and that it began to be known in Germany in 1840, and ten years afterwards in England. It was admitted into the _British Pharmacopœia_ in 1867.

=Description=—The root as found in commerce consists of transverse slices, 1 to 2 inches, rarely as much as 5 inches in diameter, and an inch or more in thickness; the bristly crown, and tapering lower portions, often no thicker than a quill, are also met with. The outside is covered by a dark papery bark; the inner surface of the slices is of a dirty brown, marbled with white, showing when viewed with a lens an abundant resinous exudation, especially towards the circumference. The interior is a spongy, fibrous, farinaceous-looking substance, having a pleasant musky odour and a bitter aromatic taste.

=Microscopic Structure=—The interior tissue of sumbul root is very irregularly constructed of woody and medullary rays, while the cortical part exhibits a loose spongy parenchyme. The structural peculiarity of the root becomes obvious, if thin slices are moistened with solution of iodine, when the medullary rays assume by reason of the starch they contain an intense blue. The structure of the root differs from the usual arrangement by the formation of independent secondary cambial zones with fibro-vascular bundles within the original cambium. Similar peculiarities are also displayed by the roots of Myrrhis odorata, Convolvulus Scammonia, Ipomœa Turpethum and others.[1191] Large balsam-ducts are also observable in Sumbul as well as in the roots of many other Umbelliferæ.[1192]

=Chemical Composition=—Sumbul root yields about 9 per cent. of a soft balsamic resin soluble in ether, and ⅓ per cent. of a dingy bluish essential oil. The resin has a musky smell, not fully developed until after contact with water. According to Reinsch (1848), it dissolves in strong sulphuric acid with a fine blue colour, but in our experience with a crimson brown. The same chemist states that when subjected to dry distillation, it yields a blue oil.

Solution of potash is stated to convert the resin of sumbul into a crystalline potassium salt of _Sumbulamic Acid_, which latter was obtained in a crystalline state by Reinsch in 1843, but has not been further examined. Sumbulamic acid, which smells strongly of musk, appears to be a different substance from _Sumbulic_ or _Sumbulolic Acid_, the potassium salt of which may be extracted by water from the above-mentioned alkaline solution. Ricker and Reinsch (1848), assert that the last-mentioned acid, of which the root contains about ¾ per cent., is none other than _Angelic Acid_, accompanied, as in angelica root, by a little valerianic acid. All these substances require further investigation, as well as the body called _Sumbulin_, which was prepared by Murawjeff (1853), and is said to form with acids, crystalline salts.

Sommer has shown (1859) that by dry distillation, sumbul resin yields _Umbelliferone_, which substance we shall further notice when describing the constituents of galbanum.

=Uses=—Prescribed in the form of tincture as a stimulating tonic.

[1191] See A. de Bary, _Anatomie_, 1877. 623.

[1192] The structure and growth of Sumbul root have been elaborately studied by Tchistiakoff, of whose observations, first published in Russian in 1870, an Italian translation with two plates has appeared in the _Nuovo Giornale Botanico_ for Oct. 1873. 298.

=Adulteration=—_Bombay Sumbul_, or “_Boi_,” is the root of Dorema Ammoniacum (see article Ammoniacum, p. 324), which is largely imported into Bombay, being used there in the Parsee fire temples as an incense.[1193] The largest roots, for which we are indebted to Professor Dymock, are three inches in diameter at the crown, by 8 inches in length. They are easily distinguished from the Sumbul by their decidedly yellowish hue as well as by the absence of any musky odour. We extracted by alcohol, from the root dried at 100° C., 26 per cent. of a resin identical with that afforded by commercial Ammoniacum.

Bombay Sumbul agrees with the _Indian Sumbul_ as described by Pereira.[1194]

ASAFŒTIDA.

_Gummi-resina Asafœtida vel Assafœtida_; _Asafœtida_; F. _Asafœtida_; G. _Asant_, _Stinkasant_.

=Botanical Origin=—Two perennial umbelliferous plants are now generally cited as the source of this drug; but though they are both capable of affording a gum-resin of strong alliaceous odour, it has not been proved that either of them furnishes the asafœtida of commerce. The plants in question are:—

1. _Ferula Narthex_ Boiss. (_Narthex Asafœtida_ Falconer), a gigantic herbaceous plant, having a large root several inches in thickness, the crown of which is clothed with coarse bristly fibres; it has an erect stem attaining 10 feet in height, throwing out from near its base upwards a regular series of branches bearing compound umbels, each branch proceeding from the axil of a large sheathing inflated petiole, the upper of which are destitute of lamina. The radical leaves, 1½ feet long, are bipinnate with broadly ligulate obtuse lobes. It has a large flat fruit with winged margin. When wounded, the plant exudes a milky juice having a powerful smell of asafœtida. It commences to grow in early spring, rapidly throwing up its foliage, which dies away at the beginning of summer. It does not flower till the root has acquired a considerable size and is several years old.

_F. Narthex_, which now exists in several botanic gardens and has flowered twice in that of Edinburgh, was discovered by Falconer in 1838, in the valley of Astor or Hasora (35° N. lat., 74°·30 E. long. north of Kashmir).[1195]

2. _Ferula Scorodosma_ Bentham et Hooker (_Scorodosma fœtidum_ Bunge; _Ferula Assa fœtida_ L. in Boissier, Flora orientalis ii. 994)—In form of leaf, in the bristly summit of the root, and in general aspect, this plant resembles the preceding; but it has the stem (5 to 7 feet high) nearly naked, with the umbels, which are very numerous, collected at the summit; and the few stem-leaves have not the voluminous sheathing petioles that are so striking a feature in _Narthex_. In _Narthex_, the vittæ of the fruit are conspicuous,—in _Scorodosma_ almost obsolete; but the development of these organs in feruloid plants varies considerably, and has been rejected by Bentham and Hooker as affording no important distinctive character. _Scorodosma_ is apparently more pubescent than _Narthex_.

[1193] _Pharm. Journ._ vi. (1875) 321.

[1194] Elements of _Mat. Med._ ii. p. 2 (1857) 208; also Bentley, _Pharm. Journ._ ix. (1878) 479.

[1195] We refrain from citing localities in Tibet, Beluchistan and Persia, where plants supposed to agree with that of Falconer have been found by other collectors.

_F. Scorodosma_ was discovered by Lehmann in 1841, in the sandy deserts eastwards of the Sea of Aral, and also on the hills of the Karatagh range south of the river Zarafshan,—that is to say, south-east of Samarkand. In 1858-59, it was observed by Bunge about Herat. At nearly the same period, it was afresh collected between the Caspian and Sea of Aral, and in the country lying eastward of the latter, by Borszczow, a Russian botanist, who has made it the subject of an elaborate and valuable memoir.[1196]

The most detailed account of the asafœtida plant we possess is that of the German traveller Engelbert Kämpfer, who in 1687 observed it in the Persian province of Laristan, between the river Shúr and the town of Kongún, also in the neighbourhood of the town of Dusgan or Disgun, in which latter locality[1197] alone he saw the gum-resin collected. He states that he found the plant also growing near Herat. Kämpfer has given figures of his plant which he calls _Asa fœtida Disgunensis_, and his specimens consisting of remnants of leaves, a couple of mericarps (in a bad state) and a piece of the stem a few inches long, are still preserved in the British Museum.

These materials have been the subject of much study, in order to determine which of the asafœtida plants of modern botanists should be identified with that of Kämpfer. Falconer and Borszczow have arrived in turns at the conclusion that his own plant accords with Kämpfer’s. But Kämpfer’s figures agree well neither with _Narthex_ nor with _Scorodosma_. The plant they represent does not form, it would seem, the branching pyramid of the _Narthex_ (as it flowered at Edinburgh), nor has it the multitude of umbels seen in Borszczow’s figure of _Scorodosma_.[1198]

Whether Kämpfer’s plant is really identical with either of those we have noticed, and whether the discrepancies observable are due to careless drawing, or to actual difference, are points that cannot be settled without the examination of more ample specimens.

Great allowance must be made for the period of growth at which these plants have been observed. Kämpfer saw his plant when quite mature, and not when its stem was young and flowering. _Narthex_ is scarcely known except from specimens grown at Edinburgh, those obtained by Falconer in Tibet having been gathered when dry and withered. Even Borszczow’s plant appears never to have been seen by any botanist while its flower-stem was in a growing state.

History—Whether the substance which the ancients called _Laser_ was the same as the modern _Asafœtida_ is a question that has been often discussed during the last three hundred years, and it is one upon which we shall attempt to offer no further evidence. Suffice it to say that _Laser_ is mentioned along with products of India and Persia, among the articles on which duty was levied at the Roman custom-house of Alexandria in the 2nd century.

“_Hingu_,” doubtless meaning Asafœtida, occurs in many Sanskrit works, especially in epic poetry, but also in Susruta.

[1196] _Die Pharmaceutisch-wichtigen Ferulaceen der Aralo-Caspischen Wüste_, St. Petersb. 1860, pp. 40, eight plates.—In the _Medicinal plants_ of Bentley and Trimen, Narthex is figured in part 29 and Scorodosma in