SUMBAL, or Sumbul,' also called Musk Root, a drug recently introduced into European medical practice. It consists of the root of Ferula Sumbul, Hook., a tall Umbelliferous plant found in the north of Bokhara, its range apparently extending beyond the Amur. It was first brought to Russia in 1835 as a substitute for musk; it was subsequently recommended as a remedy for cholera, and in 1867 was introduced into the British pharmacopoeia. The root as found in commerce consists of transverse sections an inch or more in thickness and from 1 to 3 or more inches in diameter. It has a dark thin papery bark, a spongy texture, and the cut surface is marbled with white and blackish or pale brown; it has a musky odour and a bitter aromatic taste. Sumbal is used in medicine as an antispasmodic and stimulating tonic, especially in nervous diseases. It owes its medicinal properties to a balsamic resin and an essential oil. Of the former it contains about 9 per cent. and of the latter one-third per cent. The resin is soluble in ether and has a musky smell, which is not fully developed until after contact with water; by dry distillation it yields umbelliferone, C 9 H 6 O 3 , a crystalline substance soluble in water, ether, and chloroform, and producing in an alkaline solution a brilliant blue fluorescence, which is destroyed by the addition of an acid in excess....