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AMMONIACUM, or GUM AMMONIAC

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 863 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AMMONIACUM, or See also:GUM AMMONIAC , a gum-See also:resin exuded from the See also:stem of a perennial See also:herb (Dorema ammoniacum) , natural See also:order See also:Umbelliferae. The plant grows to the height of 8 or 9 ft., and its whole stem is pervaded with a milky juice, which oozes out on an incision being made at any See also:part. This juice quickly hardens into See also:round tears, forming the " See also:tear ammoniacum " of See also:commerce. " Lump ammoniacum," the other See also:form in which the substance is met with, consists of aggregations of tears, frequently incorporating fragments of the plant itself, as well as other See also:foreign bodies. Ammoniacum has a faintly fetid, unpleasant odour, which becomes more distinct on See also:heating; externally it possesses a reddish-yellow See also:appearance, and when the tears or lumps are freshly fractured they exhibit a waxy lustre. It is chiefly collected in central See also:Persia, and comes to the See also:European See also:market by way of Bombay. Ammoniacum is closely related to asafetida and See also:galbanum (from which, however, it differs in yielding no umbelliferone) both in regard to the plant which yields it and its therapeutical effects. Internally it is used in See also:conjunction with squills in bronchial affections; and in See also:asthma and chronic colds it is found useful, but it has no advantages over a number of other substances of more See also:constant and active properties (See also:Sir See also:Thomas See also:Fraser). Only the " tear ammoniacum " is See also:official. See also:African ammoniacum is the product of a plant said to beI Ferula lingitana, which grows in See also:North See also:Africa; it is a dark coloured gum-resin, possessed of a very weak odour and a persistent acrid See also:taste.

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