_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 part 24.
[1197] Which we cannot find on any map.
[1198] Kämpfer figures his plant with about 6 umbels on a stalk, while
_Scorodosma_, as represented by Borszczow, has at least 25.
Asafœtida was certainly known to the Arabian and Persian geographers
and travellers of the middle ages. One of these, Ali Istakhri, a native
of Istakir, the ancient Persepolis, who lived in the 10th century,
states[1199] that it produced abundantly in the desert between Sistan
and Makran, and is much used by the people as a condiment. The region
in question comprises a portion of Beluchistan.
The geographer Edrisi,[1200] who wrote about the middle of the 12th
century, asserts that asafœtida, called in Arabic _Hiltit_, is
collected largely in a district of Afghanistan near Kaleh Bust, at the
junction of the Helmand with the Arghundab, a locality still producing
the drug. Other Arabian writers as quoted by Ibn Baytar,[1201] describe
asafœtida in terms which show it to have been well known and much
valued.
Matthæus Platearius, who flourished in the second half of the 12th
century, mentions asafœtida in his work on simple medicines, known as
_Circa instans_, which was held in great esteem during the middle ages.
It is also named a little later by Otho of Cremona,[1202] who remarks
that the more fœtid the drug, the better its quality. Like other
productions of the East, asafœtida found its way in European commerce
during the middle ages through the trading cities of Italy. It is
worthy of remark that it is much less frequently mentioned by the older
writers than galbanum, sagapenum and opopanax. In the 13th century, the
“Physicians of Myddfai” in Wales,[1203] considered asafœtida as one of
the substances which every physician “ought to know and use.”
=Collection=—The collecting of asafœtida on the mountains about Dusgun
in Laristan in Persia, as described by Kämpfer,[1204] is performed
thus:—
The peasants repair to the localities where the plants abound, about
the middle of April, at which time the latter have ceased growing, and
their leaves begin to show signs of withering. The soil surrounding the
plant is removed to the depth of a span, so as to bare a portion of the
root. The leaves are then pulled off, the soil is replaced, and over
it are laid the leaves and other herbage, with a stone to keep them in
place, the whole being arranged in this way to prevent injury to the
root by the heat of the sun.
[1199] _Buch der Länder_, translated by Mordtmann, Hamburg, 1845. 111.
[1200] _Géographie d’Edrisi_, traduite par Jaubert, i. (1836) 450.
[1201] Sontheimer’s transl. i. (1840) 84.
[1202] Choulant, _Macer Floridus_, Lips. 1832. 159.
[1203] _Meddygon Myddfai._ 282. 457 (see bibliographical notices at the
end).
[1204] _Amœnitates Exoticæ_, Lemgoviæ, 1712. 535-552.
About forty days later, that is towards the end of May, the people
return, the men being armed with knives for cutting the root, and broad
iron spatulas for collecting the exuded juice. Having first removed
the leaves and earth, a thinnish slice is taken from the fibrous crown
of the root, and two days later the juice is scraped from the flat cut
surface. The root is again sheltered, care being taken that nothing
rests on it. This operation is repeated twice in the course of the next
few days, a very thin slice being removed from the root after each
scraping. The product got during the first cutting is called _shīr_,
i.e. _milk_, and is thinner and more milky and less esteemed than
that obtained afterwards. It is not sold in its natural state, but is
mixed with soft earth (_terra limosa_) which is added to the extent of
an equal, or even double, weight of the gum-resin, according to the
softness of the latter.
After the last cutting, the roots are allowed to rest 8 or 10 days,
when a thicker exudation called _pispaz_, more esteemed than the first,
is obtained by a similar process carried on at intervals during June
and July, or even later, until the root is quite exhausted.
The only recent account of the production of asafœtida that we have
met with, is that of Staff-surgeon H. W. Bellew, who witnessed the
collection of the drug in 1857 in the neighbourhood of Kandahar.[1205]
The frail withered stem of the previous year with the cluster of
newly-sprouted leaves, is cut away from the top of the root, around
which a trench of 6 inches wide and as many deep, is dug in the earth.
Several deep incisions are now made in the upper part of the root, and
this operation is repeated every 3 or 4 days as the sap continues to
exude, which goes on for a week or two according to the strength of the
plant. The juice collects in tears about the top of the root, or when
very abundant flows into the hollow around it. In all cases as soon as
incisions are made, the root is covered with a bundle of loose twigs
or herbs, or even with a heap of stones, to protect it from the drying
effects of the sun. The quantity of gum-resin obtained is variable;
some roots yield scarcely half an ounce, others as much as two pounds.
Some of the roots are no larger than a carrot, others attain the
thickness of a man’s leg. The drug is said to be mostly adulterated
before it leaves the country, by admixture of powdered gypsum or flour.
The finest sort, which is generally sold pure, is obtained solely “from
the node or leaf-bud in the centre of the root-head.” At Kandahar, the
price of this superior drug is equivalent to from 2_s._ 8_d._ to 4_s._
8_d._ per lb, while the ordinary sort is worth but from 1_s._ to 2_s._
During a journey from North-western India to Teheran in Persia, through
Beluchistan and Afghanistan, performed in the spring of 1872, the
same traveller observed the asafœtida plant in great abundance on
many of the elevated undulating pasture-covered plains and hills of
Afghanistan, and of the Persian province of Khorassan. He states that
the plant is of two kinds, the one called _Kamá-i-gawí_ which is grazed
by cattle and used as a potherb, and the other known as _Kamá-i-angúza_
which affords the gum-resin of commerce. The collecting of this last
is almost exclusively in the hands of the western people of the Kákarr
tribe, one of the most numerous and powerful of the Afghan clans, who,
when thus occupied, spread their camps over the plains of Kandahar to
the confines of Herat.[1206]
Wood, in his journey to the source of the Oxus, found asafœtida to
be largely produced in a district to the north of this, namely the
mountains around Saigan or Sykan (lat. 35° 10, long. 67° 40), where,
says he, the land affording the plant is as regularly apportioned out
and as carefully guarded as the cornfields on the plain.[1207]
[1205] _Journal of a Mission to Afghanistan_, Lond. 1862. 270.
[1206] Bellew, _From the Indus to the Tigris_, London. 1874. 101. 102.
286. 321. &c.
[1207] Wood, _Journey to the Source of the River Oxus_, new ed. 1872,
131.
=Description=—The best asafœtida is that consisting chiefly of slightly
or not agglutinated tears. This is the _Kandahari-Hing_ of the Bombay
market, which is not always to be met with in Bombay, and even there
is only used by wealthy people as a condiment. It is not exported to
Europe. The best sort shipped to Europe is the _Anguzeh-i-Lari_, coming
from Laristan by way of Afghanistan and the Bolan Pass to Bombay. It
shows agglutinated tears, or when freshly imported, it forms a clammy
yet hard yellowish-grey mass, in which opaque, white or yellowish milky
tears, sometimes an inch or two long, are more or less abundant.
Sometimes asafœtida is imported as a fluid honey-like mass, apparently
pure. We presume that such is that of the first gathering, which
Kämpfer says is called _milk_. The drug is often adulterated with
earthy matter which renders it very ponderous; it must be granted that
an addition of such matters may often be necessary in order to enable
the drug to be transported. This earthy or stony asafœtida constitutes
at Bombay a distinct article of commerce under the name of _Hingra_.
By exposure to air, asafœtida acquires a bright pink and then a brown
hue. The perfectly pure tears display when fractured a conchoidal
surface, which changes from milky white to purplish pink in the course
of some hours. If a tear is touched with nitric acid sp. gr. 1·2, it
assumes for a short time a fine green colour.
When asafœtida is rubbed in a mortar with oil of vitriol, then diluted
with water and neutralized, the slightly coloured solution exhibits
a bluish fluorescence. The same will be observed, to some extent, if
tears of the drug are immersed in water and a little ammonia is added.
The tears of asafœtida when warmed become adhesive, but by cold are
rendered so brittle that they may be powdered. With water they easily
form a white emulsion.
The drug has a powerful and persistent alliaceous odour and a bitter
acrid alliaceous taste.
=Chemical Composition=—Asafœtida consists of resin, gum and essential
oil, in varying proportions, but the resin generally amounting to more
than one-half.
As to the oil, we have repeatedly obtained from 6 to 9 per cent. by
distilling it from common copper stills. It is light yellow, has a
repulsive, very pungent odour of asafœtida, tastes at first mild, then
irritating, but does not stimulate like oil of mustard when applied to
the skin. It is neutral, but after exposure to the air acquires an acid
reaction and different odour; it evolves sulphuretted hydrogen. In the
fresh state, the oil is free from oxygen; it begins to boil at 135° to
140° C., but with continued evolution of hydrogen sulphide, so that we
did not succeed in preparing it of constant composition, the amount of
sulphur varying from 20 to 25 per cent. We found it to have a sp. gr.
of 0·951 at 25°, and a strong dextrogyrate power. If one drop of it is
allowed to float on water it assumes a fine violet hue by vapours of
bromine.
The essential oil of asafœtida submitted to fractional distillation
yielded us, at 300°, a considerable proportion of a most _beautifully
blue coloured_ oil. By very cautiously oxidizing the crude oil, we
obtained a small amount of extremely deliquescent crystals of a
sulphonic acid. Sodium or potassium decomposes the oil with evolution
of gas, forming potassium sulphide; the residual oil is found to have
the odour of cinnamon.
The resin of asafœtida is not wholly soluble in ether or in chloroform,
but dissolves with decomposition in warm concentrated nitric acid. It
contains a little _Ferulaic Acid_,
C₆H₃(OCH₃)CH·CH·COOH,
(OH )
discovered by Hlasiwetz and Barth in 1866, crystallizing in iridescent
needles soluble in boiling water; it is homologous with _Eugetic Acid_,
C₆H₂(OCH₃)COOH,
(OH )CH·CH·CH₃,
which is to be obtained by adding CO₂ to the molecule of eugenol (page
284).
Ferulaic acid may be obtained from vanillin,
{OCH₃
C₆H₃ {OH (see article Vanilla).
{CHO
Fused with potash, ferulaic acid yields oxalic and carbonic acids,
several acids of the fatty series, and protocatechuic acid. The resin
itself treated in like manner after it has been previously freed from
gum, yields resorcin; and by dry distillation, oils of a green, blue,
violet or red tint, besides about ¼ per cent. of _Umbelliferone_,
C₉H₆O₃.
The mucilaginous matter of asafœtida consists of a smaller part soluble
in water and an insoluble portion. The former yields a neutral solution
which is not precipitated by neutral acetate of lead. The insoluble
part is readily dissolved by caustic lye and again separates on
addition of acids.
=Commerce=—The drug is at the present day produced exclusively in
Afghanistan. Much of it is shipped in the Persian Gulf for Bombay,
whence it is conveyed to Europe; it is also brought into India by way
of Peshawur, and by the Bolan pass in Beluchistan.
In the year 1872-73, there were imported into Bombay by sea, chiefly
from the Persian Gulf, 3367 cwt. of asafœtida, and 4780 cwt. of the
impure form of the drug called _Hingra_. The value of the latter is
scarcely a fifth that of the genuine kind. The export of asafœtida from
Bombay to Europe is very small in comparison with the shipments to
other ports of India.
=Uses=—Asafœtida is reputed stimulant and antispasmodic. It is in great
demand on the Continent, but is little employed in Great Britain. Among
the Mahommedan as well as Hindu population of India, it is generally
used as a condiment, and is eaten especially with the various pulses
known as _dāl_. In regions where the plant grows, the fresh leaves are
cooked as an article of diet.
=Adulteration=—The systematic adulteration, chiefly with earthy matter
already pointed out, may be estimated by exhausting the drug with
alcohol and incinerating the residue.
Allied Substances.
_Hing from Abushahir_, also in Bombay simply called _Hing_.
Among the natives of Bombay, a peculiar form of asafœtida is in
use that commands a much higher price than those just described;
it is also the only kind admitted there in the government sanitary
establishmente. This is the _Abushaheree Hing_, imported from Abushir
(Bender Bushehr) and Bender Abassi on the Persian Gulf. It is the
product of _Ferula alliacea_ Boiss.[1208] (_F. Asafœtida_ Boiss. et
Buhse, non Linn.) discovered in 1850 by Buhse, and observed in 1858-59
by Bunge in many places in Persia. This Hing is collected near Yezd in
Khorassan, and also in the province of Kerman, the plant being known as
_angúza_, the same name that is applied to _Scorodosma_.
Abushaheree Hing is never brought into European trade.[1209] It
forms an almost blackish brown, originally _translucent_, brittle
mass, of extremely fœtid alliaceous odour, containing many pieces of
the stem with no admixture of earth. Guibourt, by whom it was first
noticed,[1210] was convinced that it had not been obtained from the
root, but had been _cut from the stem_. He remarks that Theophrastus
alludes to asafœtida (as he terms the _Silphium_[1211] of this author)
as being of two kinds,—the one of the stem, the other of the root; and
thinks the former may be the sort under notice. Vigier,[1212] who calls
it _Asafœtida nauséeux_, found it to contain in 100 parts, of resin and
essential oil 37·5, and gum 23·7.
We find the odour of the Hing much more repulsive than that of common
Asafœtida. The former yields an abundance of essential oil, which
differs by its reddish hue from that of asafœtida. The oil of Hing,
as distilled by one of us (1877) has also a higher specific gravity,
namely, 1·02 at 25° C. We find also its rotatory power stronger;
it deviated 38°·8 to the right, when examined in a column of 100
millimetres in length. The oil of common asafœtida deviated 13°·5 under
the same conditions.
By gently warming the Abushaheree Hing with concentrated hydrochloric
acid, about 1·12 sp. gr., it displays simply a dingy brown hue. By
shaking it with water and a little ammonia no fluorescence is produced.
In all these respects there is consequently a well-marked difference
between the drug under examination and common asafœtida.
_F. teterrima_ Kar. et Kir., a plant of Soungaria, is likewise
remarkable for its intense alliaceous smell; but the plant is not known
as the source of any commercial product.[1213]