Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Aloe
Camphor
abr
(
abir, abur
) (Ar.) denotes the
aloe, a species of the
Liliaceae
, which was
widespread in the warm countries of the
ancient world, mainly in Cyprus and on
the mountains of Africa.
The leaves of many varieties provide
fibres (“aloe-fibres”) for spinning coarse
cloths, and from the aloe's dark-brown
wood a valued perfumery is won. Impor-
tant was also the aloe drug, i.e. the juice
pressed from the leaves, whose Greek
name
ἀλόη
was borrowed by the Arab
pharmacologists as
āluwī
. In the West,
the name apparently was pronounced
ibar
, which survives in Spanish
acibar
.
Among the numerous varieties of the
aloe, three are generally mentioned:
suurī, arabī
(
aramī
), and
simin
¡
ānī
(the
latter reading is uncertain; it is perhaps
derived from Simin
¡
ān in u
¶
āristān).
The first variety is considered to be the
best and probably corresponds with the
Aloe Parryi
Baker, the
Aloe Socotrina
, which
thrives in great quantities on the island of
Socotra (Suurā). The leaves, which are
full of water, are squeezed, chopped up
and pounded until the juice comes out.
This is left to thicken, placed in a dish
and exposed to the sun until it dries up.
The juice resembles that of saffron, its
scent that of myrh. The entire plant has
a sharp odour and a very bitter taste. It
has only one root. The drug was used
above all as laxative, as an amarum or
appetiser and as a choleretic; externally,
it was applied on badly healing wounds,
ulcers and burns; it was also used against
inflamations of the eye, and as a means to
improve bad breath.
In Arabic
kāfūr
(also
āfūr, af
(
f
)
ūr
); from
Hindu
karpūra, kappūra
, Malayan
kapur
),
camphor, the white, translucent substance
which is distilled together with camphor
oil from the wood of the camphor tree
(
Cinnamomum camphora
) indigenous to east
Asia (China, Formosa, Japan); it is to be
distinguished from the Borneo camphor
derived from
Dryobalanops aromatica
com-
ing from Indonesia (Sumatra, Borneo).
Both kinds were used as perfumes and
medicines, but the latter, according to the
Muslim sources native to Fanūr (anūr,
Faiūr, and variants) in Sumatra, produc-
tion of which must have been greater in
the Middle Ages than today, was much
more expensive and efficacious than the
East Asian variety; according to Marco
Polo it was worth its weight in gold.
Camphor seems to have been unknown
to Greek and Roman antiquity, but in
the Near East, by Sāsānid times at the
latest, it was used as spice and perfume;
when the Arabs conquered Ctesiphon in
16/637, they found there rich stores of
camphor, which they thought was salt.
It was also known in ancient Arabia, for
according to urān LXXVI, 5, devout
Muslims are refreshed in paradise with a
drink flavoured with camphor. Camphor
was known to ancient Arabic poets, at
least by name; it is often put metonymi-
cally with musk (
misk
) as a symbol of the
opposition of white and black.
The technology of camphor, its prove-
nance, extraction, preservation, utilisation
etc., is fairly comprehensively described
by the geographers and cosmographers.
The camphor tree grew on river banks
and became so large that it could give
shade to a hundred men. In general it
was dealt with as follows: the bark was cut
so that the resin ran out. It was collected
in large vessels and kept cool. In so far
(A. Dietrich)
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