vaiit ii. Materia Meoica. — Ferula Assafcetida.

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liaceous, of a reddish brown colour, rough, with three longitudi-nal lines; and have a porraceous odour, and a sharp bitter taste.

When the root is four years old it is fit to yield the assa-fcetida, which is procured in the following manner. At theseason when the stem and leaves begin to decay, they arettvisted oft' from the root, which is then exposed by diggingaway the earth that surrounds it. It is left in this state screenedfrom the sun for forty clays; then the top is cut off transversely ;and after forty-eight hours the juice which has exuded is scrapedoffj and another transverse section is made. This operation isrepeated three successive times, and then the root is allowed toremain untouched for eight or ten days, before another sectionis made. The root perishes after it is exhausted of the juice.The juice collected from a number of roots is put together anddried in the sun.

Assafcetida is brought into this country packed in cases, mats,and casks; that in the cases proving generally the best. It isin irregular masses, adhering to each other, externally of abrownish yellow colour, and containing many little shiningtears of a whitish., reddish, or violet hue. The best is clear,and of a pale reddish colour, contains many of the white tears,and has the odour very strong.

Qualities. — Assafcetida has a strong, very disagreeable, allia-ceous, fetid odour, and a bitter subacrid taste; but these qua-lities, particularly the odour, on which much of the efficacyof the drug depends, are much injured by keeping. 1 It be-comes brittle by exposure to the air; but is not easily reducedto powder, unless it be triturated with carbonate of ammonia.Its specific gravity is 1.327. It yields all its virtues to etherand to alcohol. It is diffused by trituration in water, formino-a milky, opaque mixture. The ethereal tincture, when evapo-rated on water, leaves a thick pellicle of brown fetid resin, andgives the water a milky appearance. In distillation either withwater or alcohol assafcetida yields an essential oil, on which its-odour depends. The proportions of its components are gum GO,resin 30, ami essential oil 10 parts in 100; but Brugnatelliaffirms that the part which has been regarded as gum isextractive. 8

Medical properties and uses. —This gum resin is stimulant,antispasmodic, expectorant, emmenagogue, and anthelmintic.It is more efficacious than any of the other fetid gums ; pro-ducing its effects in a shorter space of time; and is thereforebeneficially given as an antispasmodic in cases of hysteria, hy-

1 Kcempfer says : " Affirmare ausim drachmam unain, recens effusani, majoremspargere fcetorem quam centum libras yetustioris, quern siccum venundam aro-matarii nobtrates." Amwn. Exotica, p. 53,5.

2 Compendia di, Hat. Med, p. 41. Pavia, 1817.