a peculiar secretion found in the preputial gland of a small animal of the natural order Ruminantia. The musk animal (Moschus moschiferus, Linnaeus) is found in Asia, and is often called the musk deer, but it cannot properly be classed under the genus Deer. (For information respecting it, see Mammalia.) The gland, or pod, as it is technically called, from which the musk is obtained, varies from one inch and a half to an inch and three-quarters in width, and often exceeds two inches in length. When first removed, it contains the secretion in a soft, almost liquid state; but it hardens by careful drying, and when removed is not unlike dark-colored snuff, coarsely granulated. A good musk-pod contains about two drachms and a half of musk, the great value of which (£3 to £3, 10s. per ounce) leads to a variety of ingenious adulterations, in which dried blood and grain tin are much used. The Chinese even imitate the pods, and thus, too, with so much success, that it is difficult to detect the fraud, except by very nice and experienced examination. It is imported in catty-boxes, usually containing from twenty to twenty-five pods. Musk is employed in perfumery and medicine; and, considering the powerful nature of this perfume, and the only source from which it can be obtained, the quantity used is very considerable. In 1856 the import was rather more than 5000 ounces, and as each pod weighs nearly an ounce when dry, this would necessitate the destruction of 5000 animals for the supply of England alone, where musk is not a favorite perfume, except in combination with other materials.

One of the most remarkable qualities of musk is the extraordinary persistence of its perfume. Specimens have been examined one hundred years old, the scent of which has been as powerful as recent musk; and the nicest balance has failed to detect any loss of weight in musk which has been so placed as to perfume a whole room for upwards of thirty years. In medicine, musk is occasionally used as an antispasmodic. It is also slightly narcotic, but it is not often administered. The duty on musk was reduced in 1832, and repealed entirely in 1845.