Tabasheer, Tian Zhu Huang 天竺黄

Bamboo Silica, Bamboo Manna, Bamboo Salt, Bamboo Camphor
Tian Zhu Huang (TCM)
Vasalocana (Ayurveda)
Cu Gan (Tibetan)
Tabaashir (Unani)
Bansalochan (Persian)
Qasab (Arabic)
 Picture
Picture Indiae Utriusque re Naturali et Medica, Pisonis, 1658

Picture B. arundinacea (as Arundo bambos)
Plantarum indigenarum et exoticarum Icones ad vivum coloratae, vol. 5 (1792)

Picture Two varieties of Tabasheer available on the market, Blue and White.
(Adam, 2022)

BUY TABASHEER
Picture

Botanical name:


Several species of Bamboo supply Tabasheer:
  1. Bambusa arundinacea (syn. B. bambos, Arundo bambos)
  2. Bambusa apous, B. orientalis, B. spinosa and others in Ayurveda;
  3. Phyllostachys nigra, P. reticulata and others sources in TCM.

Parts used:


Siliceous deposit from the nodes of certain Bamboo species.
Several things are available as ‘Tabasheer’:
  1. Natural White Tabasheer–very rare, the best is white found in small grains or pearls in the Bamboo nodes.
  2. Grey–Blackish Tabasheer–obtained by burning the roots; lesser quality (Avicenna)
  3. Low grade ‘Tabasheer’–burnt Bones (lower grade available on the Indian Market)
  4. ‘Tabasheer’ available on the Western market was usually burnt Ivory (Spodium)
  5. Modern Tabasheer: most of the product on the market is synthetic, either White or grey-blue

Temperature & Taste:


Cold, Dry, Sweet, Astringent
“It is Cold in the Second and dry in the Third Degree” (Avicenna)

Classifications:


2N. REPELLENTS.    2P. HEMOSTATIC.    2S. STRENGTHENING
3B. FEBRIFUGE & ANTIPYRETIC.    3D. CORDIALS & CARDIACS.    3K. EXPECTORANT.    3L. ANTI-TUSSIVE
4a. CEPHALIC.    4c. CARDIAC.    4d. PECTORAL.    4g. HEPATIC.    4j. NERVINE
TCM:
P. Clears Hot Phlegm

Constituents:


A. Natural Product:
1. Silicic acid (to 96%; Silicon dioxide (88%), Potassium (1.1%), Fe2O3 (1–4%), Aluminium oxide (3.5%), Calcium oxide
2. Polysaccharides
3. Amino acids
4. Acetylcholine is found in Bamboo; it is not certain if it occurs in traces in natural Tabasheer
B. Synthetic Product:
1. Silicon dioxide (92.5%), Fe2O3 (1.5%), Aluminium oxide (2%), Potassium, Calcium oxide

Uses:


1. Clears Heat and Toxin (TCM, West, Ayurveda, Tibetan):
-various types of Fever; Acute, Chronic, Stubborn and High Fevers
-“It is useful in acute Fevers” (Avicenna)
-Febrile Convulsions seen in the high Fevers of Children
-Thirst associated with Fever
-Skin disorders including Eczema and Psoriasis
-sore red eyes from Heat and Toxin.
-Traditionally, it has also been used for various types of Poison and Toxin including Snake bite.
-side effects of taking mineral drugs. (Han Bao Sheng, TCM)
-Syphilis, Gonorrhea (Unani, Ayurveda)
-vegetable substitute for Bezoar in these cases.

2. Clears Heat and Phlegm, Stops Cough, Benefits the Lungs (TCM, West, Ayurveda, Tibetan):
-acute and chronic Cough, Bronchitis, Asthma, and Wheezing
-acute Colds and Flu with Heat symptoms.
-highly regarded for chronic Lung Diseases including Bronchiectasis, Emphysema, Tuberculosis

3. Clears Heat, Calms Wind, Stops Spasms (TCM, Ayurveda, Tibetan):
-Febrile Convulsions and Night Terrors in young children
-Loss of Consciousness, Coma, and Delirium associated with High Fever, or obstruction of Phlegm and Heat.
–Paralysis, Parkinsonism, Pain over the whole body and in various Wind formulas (Tibetan Medicine)
-Headache and Migraine
-adjunct in Arthritis and Rheumatism
–Insanity coming from Heat and Wind
-‘stabilizes the Mind’. (Kai Bao Ben Cao, TCM)

4. Benefits the Heart, Clears Heart Fire: (TCM, West, Ayurveda, Tibetan):
-Palpitations with Anxiety from Heat, Fainting and Loss of consciousness; it has a soothing effect on the nerves.
-Melancholy, Depression and Grief. (Avicenna)
-“It is useful in hot Palpitation” (Avicenna)
-“Tabasheer strengthens the Heart” (Avicenna)

5. Clears Stomach Heat: (West, Ayurveda):
-‘vomiting, burning and weakness of the Stomach’. (Avicenna)
-‘Stops infiltration of yellow bile towards stomach and relieves pain’. (Avicenna)
-Bilious Diarrhea (Avicenna)
–Vomiting from Phlegm and Heat (Ayurveda).

6. Rasayana (Ayurveda, Tibetan, West):
-enhances the 7 Tissues and increases Sperm.
-Debility, Emaciation, Consumption; also Thirst. (see Restorative Electuary)
-Diabetes
-regarded as strengthening, rejuvenating medicine, good for the elderly, and in convalescence.
-used in formulas for various chronic and obstinate diseases.
-benefits Brain and Nerves; weakness of the Sense organs
–Unani says it is a Heart and Liver Tonic, and classifies it as Exhilarant.

7. Clears Heat, Stops Bleeding (Unani, Ayurveda, Tibetan):
-various types of bleeding from Heat or Fever

8. Kills Worms:
-Thread-worms in children. (Ayurveda)

9. Externally:
-Eye disorders (as a filtered wash)
-hot inflammations of the eye. (Avicenna)
-Mouth Ulcers. (Avicenna, TCM)


Dose:


Most effective in pills and powder
Powders and Pills: 300mg–1 gram (up to 2 grams)
In TCM it is used in decoction in doses of 3–6 grams.

Substitutes:


1. Spodium (burnt Ivory) has been used as a substitute in the West since as least the 12th century.
2. In India, the starch of Curcuma angustifolia is recommended as a substitute (Ayurvedic Formulary of India).
3. Unani substitutes include Sumac, Purslane seed, Chicory seed.
4. White Sandalwood is regarded as the best substitute by some Unani physicians.
5. Albizzia (Unani)
6. Kaolinite is listed synonymously with Tabasheer in some Tibetan texts.
7. Gypsum is listed as an acceptable substitute in some Buryat sources.
8. Borax
9. Bamboo juice (Zhu Li) is similar in effect, although not as strong. Tabasheer is stronger for infantile convulsions, in clearing Heat, settling wind to stop Convulsions. Tabsheer also has traditional tonic uses.
10. The majority of the Tabasheer on the modern market is synthetic and is acceptable in the Pharmacopoeias.
11. Tabasheer itself has been used as a vegetable substitute for Bezoar.

Correctives:


1. Mastic or Pistacia terebinthus (Unani)
2. Saffron (Unani)
3. Rose, Rose water (Unani).
4. Jujube
5. Honey
6. Aniseed (Unani)
7. Aloe (Unani)

Note:
1. This was introduced to Europe via the Arabs who acquired the use of Tabasheer from the Indians. Early translators mistranslated Tabasheer for Spodium (burnt Ivory). For centuries, the formulas of the Arabs that used Tabasheer was substituted with burnt Ivory. As Renodeus noted, it was mainly because Tabasheer was rarely available in Europe. It is worth noting that burnt Teeth and Bones are said to supply inferior grades on the market in India too, or are found as adulterants.
2. Tabasheer is an important medicine in Tibetan Medicine, Ayurveda, and Unani with its use being less common in TCM. It appears particularly in formulas for Fever, Phlegm-Heat Cough and Spasms and Convulsions from Wind-Heat. It is also used for various other Wind conditions as well as in tonic formulas.
3. Despite being Cold and dry and useful for clearing Heat, it has secondary tonic effect according to traditional texts.
4. The majority of the product on the market today is synthetic. Blue and white varieties are differentiated.

Main Combinations:


Six Excellent Medicines (Tibetan Medicine)

Heat & Fever
1. Fever:
i. Tabasheer with White Sandalwood and Camphor (Tibetan Medicine, Unani)
ii. Fever in Children, Tabasheer with Saffron and Bezoar (Tibetan Medicine)
iii. all types of Fever including Malaria and Meningitis: Tabasheer with Nutmeg, Clove, Camphor, Saffron, Cardamon, Sandalwood, Swertia (Tibetan)
iv. Burning Fever, Rose (3 drams), Tabasheer (1 dram) (Syrian ‘Book of Medicine‘, Budge, 1913)
v. Burning Fever, Rose, Tabasheer (8 drams each), Cucumber seed (20 drams), Agrimony (3 drams) (Syrian ‘Book of Medicine‘, Budge, 1913)
vi. acute Fever with Thirst, Tabasheer, Alhagi Manna, Melon seed, Cucumber seed, Gourd seed, White Poppy seed, Tragacanth (Troches of Tabasheer with Alhagi)
vii. Fever with Thirst, Tabasheer, Barberry fruit, Licorice, Cucumber seed, Purslane seed, Tragacanth, Camphor
viii. Fever, Fever with Diarrhea, Hectic Fever, Consumption, Tabasheer with Rose, Sorrel seed, Purslane seed, Coriander seed, Sumac, Pomegranate flower (as in Troches of Spodium [Tabasheer])
ix. High Fever with loss of consciousness, delirium, Tabasheer, Bezoar (Niu Huang), Calamus (Shi Chang Pu), Pearl (Zhen Zhu), Water Buffalo Horn (Shui Niu Jiao) (TCM)
x. Chronic Fever with shivering, Tabasheer, Rose, unripe Dates, Agrimony, Purslane seed, Licorice (fromThe Dispensatory of Ibn at Tilmid)
2. Infantile Febrile Convulsions (see below for other types of Infantile Convulsions):
i. from Wind-Heat, Tabasheer, Pearl, Red Coral
ii. from Heat-Phlegm, Tabasheer, bile-prepared Arisaema Dan Nan Xing, Indigo (Qing Dai)
iii. Tabasheer with Pearl; Gastrodia Tian Ma, Coptis Huang Lian
3. Intolerable Thirst, Tabasheer with Lettuce seed, Purslane seed, Coriander seed, Armenian Earth, Pomegranate flower and Camphor (Wirtzung)
4. Liver heat:
i. Tabasheer with Picrorhiza, Safflower, Bezoar, Swertia, White Sandalwood (Tibetan Medicine)
ii. Fever; Heat of the Liver, Bladder, Breast or Stomach, combine Barberry extract, Licorice, Tabasheer, Rose, Purslane seed, Tragacanth, Camphor (as in Troches of Barberries)
5. Stop Bleeding, clear Heat and Inflammations, Tabasheer with Earth of Lemnos, Gum Arabic, Dragons Blood, Rose, Hematite, Red Coral, Amber, Pomegranate flowers (as in Troches of Earth of Lemnos)

Lungs
6. Cough:
i. Cough, Bronchitis, Chronic Lung diseases, Thirst, Tabasheer with Long Pepper, Cardamon, Cinnamon and Sugar (as in Sitopaladi Powder of Ayurveda)
ii. Cough and Cold, Tabasheer with Clove, Saffron, Sandalwood, Costus, Myrrh (Tibetan Medicine)
iii. deficient Cough, Tabasheer with Raisin, Safflower, Licorice, Bistort, Cinnamon (as in Raisin 7 of Tibetan Medicine)
iv. Phlegm-Heat cough, Tabasheer with Adhatoda, Licorice
v. Tabasheer, Emblic Myrobalan, Long Pepper, Raisins, Sugar made into a linctus with Ghee and Honey. (The Bower Manuscript, Ayurveda)
vi. Cough with Hemoptysis from excess Heat, Tabasheer, Red Earth, Gum Arabic, Barberry, Rose, Red Coral
vii. Cough, Bronchitis, Asthmatic Bronchitis, Pneumonia from Phlegm-Heat, Fritillaria Chuan Bei Mu, Antelope horn (Ling Yang Jiao), Cow Bile (Niu Dan), Musk (She Xiang), Aloeswood (Chen Xiang), Tabasheer (Tian Zhu Huang), calcined Borax (Duan Peng Sha). This is a patent medicine.
7. To clear Phlegm:
i. Tabasheer with Arisaema Tian Nan Xing
ii. Tabasheer with Pinellia Ban Xia, Citrus Chen Pi, Poria Fu Ling
8. Sore Throat, Hoarseness, Cough, Chest pain Tabasheer with Clove, Costus, Licorice, White Gentian (Gentian algida), Chebulic Myrobalan (as in Clove 6 (Li shi drug pa) of Tibetan Medicine)
9. Tuberculosis, Hectic Fever, Consumption, Tabasheer with Tragacanth, Starch, Cucumber seed Pine nut, Gum Arabic, Lesser Cardamon (as in Lohoch of Tabasheer of Unani)
10. Hemoptysis, Tabasheer with Pearl, Dragons Blood, Amber, Bistort, Licorice, Red Earth, Tragacanth, Pumpkin seed, Melon seed (Unani)
11. Lung Ulcer with Cough, Tabasheer, Lacca, Galls, Licorice, Raisins, Long Pepper (equal parts), Sugar (twice the weight fo all the rest), mix with Honey and Ghee to form a linctus. (The Bower Manuscript, Ayurveda)
12. Lung Abscess, Tabasheer (3 grams), Fritillaria Chuan Bei Mu (30 grams), Borax (Peng Sha) (3 grams), Clam shell (Wen Ge), stir-fried (1 ½ grams). Form pills with Honey-fried Loquat leaf (Pi Pa Ye) to be held in the mouth.

Nervous System, Mental Illness, Wind diseases
13. Stroke with excess Phlegm, Tabasheer with Calamus (Shi Chang Pu), Curcuma Yu Jin, Bezoar (Niu Huang)
14. Coma from Wind-Phlegm, Tabasheer with Calamus and Clove
15. Wind-Phlegm-Heat obstructing the orifices of the Brain with Fever, Irritability, Convulsions, Tabasheer with Arisaema Dan Nan Xing (Bile prepared), Bezoar, Musk, Realgar, Borax, purified Croton seed (as in Chenjin Wan of TCM)
16. Heart Fire causing Madness, Mania, Hallucinations, Tabasheer with Bezoar, Cinnabar, Coptis Huang Lian, Polygala Yuan Zhi, Poria Fu Shen, Licorice, Gold and Silver (as in Tian Zhu Huang Wan)
17. Schizophrenia, Tabasheer, Calamus Shi Chang Pu, Polygala Yuan Zhi, Curcuma Yu Jin, Immature Bitter Orange (Zhi Shi), Tangerine peel (Chen Pi), Pinellia Ban Xia, Poria Fu Ling, Licorice (The Formulas of Dr. John H.F. Shen)
18. Depressive Psychosis or Epilepy from Phlegm-Heat:
i. Tabasheer with bile-prepared Arisaema Dan Nan Xing, Amber (Hu Po)
ii. Tabasheer with Curcuma Yu Jin, Alum (Bai Fan), White Dead Silkworm (Jiang Can)
iii. with intense heat (Fire), Tabasheer, Centipede (Wu Gong)
19. Childhood Convulsions:
i. from Phlegm and Food, Tabasheer with Dioscorea Shan Yao, Licorice, Amber, Sandalwood (Tan Xiang), Poria Fu Ling, Arisaema prepared with Bile Dan Nan Xing, Citrus Zhi Shi (as in Hu Po Bao Long Wan of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia)
ii. Tabasheer with Coptis Huang Lian, Rhubarb (Da Hiuang), Cicada Slough (Chan Tui), Licorice. Powder and decoct 1 ½–3 grams with fresh Ginger and Peppermint to be given. (this is called Gou Teng Yin Zi)
iii. from Wind-Phlegm, Tabasheer with Bezoar, Scorpion, Pearl, Musk, Realgar, Gastrodia Tian Ma, Saposhnikovia Fang Feng, Arisaema prepared with Bile Dan Nan Xing, Pinellia Ban Xia, Amber, Borneo Camphor (Bing Pian), Mint (Bo He), Licorice (as in Niu Huang Zhen Jing Wan of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia)

Digestive system
20. Loss of Appetite, Tabasheer with Safflower, Pomegranate, Cinnamon, long Pepper, Clove (Tibetan Medicine)
21. Stomach weakness, Vertigo, Dizziness, Tabasheer with Rose, Sandalwood, Emblic Myrobalan, Coriander, Mastic, Lemon peel, Clove formed into an Electuary with Quince extract and Ghee (as in Electuary of Tabasheer of Unani)
22. Vomiting from Stomach Heat, Tabasheer, Cumin seed (vinegar prepared), Sumac, Coriander seed (soaked in vinegar and roasted), Pomegranate seed, Mastic (The Dispensatory of Ibn at Tilmid)

Other:
23. Palpitations from Heat:
i. Tabasheer, Sandalwood, Rose, Amber, Red Coral
ii. Tabsheer, Melon seed, Cucumber seed, Gourd seed, Armenian Earth, Rose, Amber, Aloeswood, Mastic, Camphor (The Dispensatory of Ibn at Tilmid)
24. Liver Heat, Tabasheer, Rose, Borage, Poppy seed, Cucumber seed, Barberry
25. Diabetes:
i. Tabasheer with Shilajit, Gymnema
ii. Tabasheer, Lettuce seed, Rose, Purslane seed, Red Earth, Pomegranate flower (Tablet of Tabasheer, Unani)
26. Threatened Miscarriage from Heat, Tabasheer with Aloeswood, Sandalwood, Bistort root, Purslane seed, Armenian Earth, Mastic (as in Powder of Muhafiz Janeen of Unani)
27. Leukorrhea, Tabasheer with Cubeb, Mastic and Cardamon
28. Mouth Ulcers, Tabasheer, Borax (Peng Sha), Borneo Camphor (Bing Pian), apply topically (TCM)

Major Formulas:


Troches of Spodium [Tabsheer] (Nicholas)
Troches of Spodium [Tabasheer] (Avicenna)
Troches of Spodium [Tabasheer] (Mesue)
Troches of Tabasheer (Qurs Tabsheer) (Unani)
Troches of Camphor (Mesue)
Troches of Poppy seed (Unani)
Cooling Electuary of Musk (Rhazes)
Cooling Exhilarating Electuary (Unani)
Powder for Hoarseness of the Throat
Red Hungarian Powder
Powder for Migraine (Alexander)
Powder for Palpitation from Heat
Powder for Vomiting from Bile
Powder for Vomiting from Phlegm and Bile (1)
Powder for Vomiting from Phlegm and Bile (2)
Powder for Vomiting of Blood
Powder of Crabs 
Powder of Digher (Unani)
Powder of Muhafiz Janeen (Unani)
Pills of Camphor (Unani)
Electuary for Liver Heat (Unani)
Electuary to Conquer
Electuary for Stomach Debility
Letificans Electuary (Unani)
Letificans Cooling Electuary (Unani)
Medicine to Defend the Base from all Danger
Noble Confection for the Heart
Restorative of Nicholas (Pleres Arconticon) (Nicholas)
Syrup of Psyllium (Mesue)
Syrup of Sandalwood (Unani)

Bo Ying Compound
Hui Chun Dan
Sitopaladi Powder (Ayurveda)
Candraprabha Vati (Ayurveda)

Aloeswood 8 (A gar brgyad pa) (Tibetan)
Aloeswood 8 Water Transformer (Ar brgyad chu bsgyur) (Tibetan)
Aloeswood 15 (A gar bcu lnga) (Tibetan)
Aloeswood 20 (A gar nyi shu) (Tibetan)
Aloeswood 31 (A gar so gcig) (Tibetan)
Aloeswood 35 (A gar so lnga) (Tibetan)
Amomum 19 (Tibetan)
Balancing Comforter (Tibetan)
Bi Ma La (Tibetan)
Camphor 14 (Tibetan)
Clarifying Lloydia 15 (Gsal byed a wa bco lnga)
Clove 6 (Li shi drug pa) (Tibetan)
Cool Elixir 9 (Bsil bcud dgu pa) (Tibetan)
Copper 25 (Zangs thal nyer lnga) (Tibetan)
Death Healing Nectar (Tibetan)
Eleven Holders of Life (Srog dzin dcu gcig) (Tibetan)
Eliminator of All Lung Imbalances (Khrugs glo bcu gsum) (Tibetan)
Gentiana algida 15 (Spang rgyan dkar po 15) (Tibetan)
Goethite 25 (Mdung rtse nyer lnga) (Tibetan)
Great Yellow Compound (Sman ser chen mo) (Tibetan)
Life Holding Jewel (Srog ‘dzin nor bu) (Tibetan)
Minister 3 (Tibetan) 
Minister 9 (Tibetan)
Notopterygium 29 Pills (Spru nag nyer dgu) (Tibetan)
Pearl 25 (Mu tig nyer lnga) (Tibetan)
Phlomis 7 (Lug mur bdun pa) (Tibetan)
Pomegranate All Inclusive Pill (Se ‘bru kun ‘dus) (Tibetan)
Precious and Great Multi-Jewel Compound Pill (Rin chen mang sbyor chen mo) (Tibetan)
Precious Wish Fulfilling Jewel (Rin chen ratna bsam ‘phel) (Tibetan)
Principle 8 (Gtso bo brgyad pa) (Tibetan)
Principle 25 (Gtso bo nyer lnga) (Tibetan)
Raisin 7 (Rgum brum bdun pa) (Tibetan)
Rhododendron 16 (Dwa lis bcu drug) (Tibetan)
Safflower Supreme 7 (Gur gum mchog bdun) (Tibetan)
Six Excellent Medicines (Tibetan)
Supreme 25 (Bla med nyer lnga) (Tibetan)
Swertia 25 (Tig ta nyer lnga) (Tibetan)
Tabasheer 9 (Cu gang dgu pa) (Tibetan)
Vajra conquering Heart Wind 17 (Tibetan)
Wish-fulfilling Jewel (Bsam phel nor bu) (Tibetan)

Cautions:


1. Not used in marked Coldness or Yang deficiency.
2. It is corrected and enhanced when combined with pungent medicines like Ginger or Pepper.
3. Avoid inhaling the powder as it is almost pure silica.

Main Preparations used:


Troches of Spodium
‘The Bamboo, in Sanskrit Vansa and Venu, is considered by the Hindus to have the hardest of woods. The word also signifies ‘spine’ and ‘lineage,’ thus Vansa-visuddha means “made of a good bamboo,” i.e. ,of a pure or good family, and Vansa-dhara ” carrying a bamboo,” i.e., maintaining a family, Vansa-pratishthana-kara “establishing a family on a sure foundation.” The Abbe Dubois, in his Description of India, states that the young Indian bride and bridegroom are made to stand in two bamboo baskets placed side by side, and the Kul or Arbor generations of the caste, at Hindu marriages, is placed in a winnowing fan made of bamboo. The wild tribes of the Garrow hills, who have no temples or altars, set up opposite their huts a bamboo post which they deck with flowers and tufts of cotton, and before it they make offerings to their god. Indian anchorites carry a bamboo stick having seven knots. A bamboo flowering is an event of rare occurrence, and which is supposed to bring in its train all sorts of evil, accompanied by dire distress and famine. The seeds of the bamboo, in Sanskrit Vansa-tandula, Vansa-ja, Venu-yava, Venu-vija, have often proved of great value in famine seasons, saving thousands of lives ;this was the case in Orissa in 1812 and in Canara in 1864. The young shoots which appear towards the end of the rainy season are used as a vegetable ; they are minced very finely and soaked in water to remove the bitter taste, and then cooked with dal, and seasoned according to taste : they are also made into pickle.

A decoction of the joints of the bamboo is supposed to have an action on the uterus, and is used by females after delivery to cause a free flow of the lochial discharge. The same part of the plant pounded with water is applied to inflamed joints. The juice of the leaves with aromatics is given in haematemesis. The leaves are very commonly given to horses by syces as a remedy for coughs and colds.

Bamboo manna is the Vansa-lochana of the Indian physicians; in the Nirghantas it bears many synonyms, such as Vansa-rochana, Tvak-kshiru “bark-milk,” Vansa-karpura “bamboo camphor,”  Vansa-sarkara” bamboo sugar,” Vansuhva “bamboo sacrifice,” Subhra, and Sita “white,” &c. It is considered to be strengthening, tonic, cold, and sweet; to alleviate thirst, and to avert phthisis, fever, asthma, cough, biliousness, skin diseases, and Vayu (morbid affections of the windy humor). As an example of the way in which it is prescribed, the following formula for making the Sitopaladi-churna will be found in Sarangadhara:— Bamboo manna 8 parts, long pepper 4, cardamoms 2, cinnamon 1, sugar 16. Powder and mix. Dose about 60 grains, to be given with honey and ghee in phthisis and cachexia.

The belief in the strengthening properties of bamboo manna appears to have originated among the aboriginal tribes of India, as on the West Coast it is the first solid food which the Thana Kolis give their children. The same belief seems to have prevailed in Borneo, as Marco Polo relates that pieces of this substance were let in under the skin by the natives to make the body wound-proof.

We hold with Salmasins that bamboo manna was the substance known to the Greeks as [?], and described
by them as a white, concreted or crystalline substance like common salt, because there was no kind of sugar prepared from the sugar-cane, answering to this description, known in India in the time of Dioscorides. The name Sarkara, which signifies “grit, pebbles, sand,” was applied by Hindu writers at that time to several substances, viz., Guda or molasses in a dry granular state, the only kind of cane-sugar then in use in India; Yavasa-sarkara, the concrete manna of Alhagi; and Vansa sarkara, the concretion found in the bamboo.

The Sanskrit name Khanda was also applied to Guda, which is the substance known in the vernaculars as Gur or Gul, and is still the kind of sugar most used by the Hindus. Pale crystalline sugar, the Chini of the bazars, does not appear to have been known until some 400 years after the date of Dioscorides.

Under the name of Tabashir, a corruption of the Sanskrit Tvak-kshira, bamboo manna was known to the early Arab travellers in the East; the port of Thana, on the West Coast of India, was famous for its Tabashir in the time of Idrisi (1135) and supplied it to all marts. Ibn Sina describes Tabashir as astringent and stomachic, useful in erysipelas and to allay thirst in bilious-dyspepsia, cardiacal, and strengthening. Asa local application it is used to relieve the heat and irritation caused by aphthous eruptions along with pounded rose leaves. Later Mahomedan writers upon the Materia Medica of the East have added nothing of importance to Ibn Sina’s account of the drug. Fliickiger (Zur Geschichte des Tabazchir, Zeit. des allg. oster: Apoth. Ver. Nr. 14 u. 15, 1887) mentions a list of Indian goods on which transit duty was levied at Aden in 1270; in it Tabashir is mentioned together with tamarinds and camphor. He also draws attention to a remarkable connection between Tabashir and ivory ashes, generally known by the name of Spodium. Idrisi, in the middle of the 12th century, points out that the latter was used to adulterate the former, while others of a different opinion assign a greater value to Spodium. Garcia d’Orta (Colloquios 5 1) mentions both Tabashir and Spodium, which he considers to be Pompholyx or Turtia (white of zinc ? calamine ?), and states that in Persia and Arabia Tabashir was generally paid for by its weight in silver (“o preso ordinario na Persia e Arabia 6 a peso de prata “); he also describes black or grey Tabashir, which was of less value and was obtained by burning the bamboo cane. Fliickiger remarks that it is most likely that the name “Spodium da canna ” was given to this black Tabashir or perhaps to the ashes of the cane, and that it might be owing to this circumstance that in later times the name Spodium came to be applied to animal charcoal (bone- black). The idea of black seems not to have been connected with the original Greek name [?] (ashes). Fliickiger also draws attention to the Latin translation of a Persian Karabddin or Pharmacopoeia by the Carmelite Friar P. Angelus, published in Paris in 1681, in which Tabashir is spoken of as pseudo-spodium, anti-spodium, and spodium-arabicum. Rheede as well as Rumphius notice Tabashir, but it does not appear to have attracted much attention in Europe until Dr. Patrick Russell drew the attention of the Royal Society to it, and induced James Louis Macie to make an analysis, which showed that it consisted principally of silica’. (Pharmacographia Indica, Dymock, 1893)
1. An Account of the Tabasheer, Russel, Med Facts Obs, 1791
2. An Account of Some Chemical Experiments on Tabasheer, James Louie Macie, Esq, Med Facts Obs, 1793