ASAFOTIDA, or ASSAFCET1DA (i.e., fetid asa or assn), is a gum-resin, which has been supposed to .be identical with the exuded juice of the silp4on of Dioscorides, so highly esteemed among tho Greek physicians; but which, perhaps, was rather the asa dulcis. Its name is derived from the Persian word asa, which means a staff. This drug is brought from Persia and Afghanistan, and is procured by drying the milky juice which flows from the root of the plant ferula (narthex) A., which has been referred to the genus ferula by Linnams, and to narthex by Dr. Falconer. The root of the A. plant is long, and generally undivided; white inside, but having a black covering; and con tains in its interior a quantity of juice of an overpowering odor, which much resembles that of garlic. Ferula or narthex A. has its radical leaves tripartite, their segments bipinnatifid, and nearly 2 ft. in length. The gum-resin is said by some to be obtained also from ferula persica, a plant which has the root-leaves very much divided, and all either tripinuato or quadripinuate. The name ferula, like the Persian asa, refers to the appearance of the stem of the plant. Ferula persica has long been propagated suc cessfully in Britain, and even brings its seeds to perfection.
A. is prepared in the dry southern provinces of Persia, but chiefly in Khorassan and Afghanistan, and also to the n. of the Hindu Kush range of mountains. About April, the root-leaves are taken away, and the root itself is more or less exposed by removal of the soil from about it. After a lapse of six weeks, a slice is cut horizontally from its summit, and a thick white juice exudes, the smell of which even exceeds in strength that of the drug when dry. The drug is sometimes met with in the market in the form of tears, but more frequently in lumps, which are made up of irregularly shaped tears, agglutinated together by a softer substance, A. is extensively used in medicine, and possesses stimulant and anti-spasmodic properties. When taken internally, it undergoes absorption, and may he detected in almost every secretion of the body, as the saliva, breath, and urine. According to the analysis of Pelletier, A. is, composed of the fol lowing substances: resin, n parts; volatile oil, 3.0; gum, 19.44; bassorin, 11.66; vari ous salts, .30. In many parts of the east, this drug is used as acondiment, in which respect it seems to take the place of the garlic of some European nations.