sile, inversely ovate, entire, veined, and of a bright green colour: the flowers are scattered upon the branches, and are of a white colour: the calyx is permanent, and divided at the brim into four small pointed teeth: the petals are four, oblong, concave, patent, and white the filaments are eight, tapering, erect, and terminated by oblong antheræ : the germen is egg-shaped, and placed above the insertion of the corolla: the style is thick, of the length of the filaments, and terminated by a quadrangular stigma: the fruit is of the drupaceous kind, roundish, opening by four valves, and containing a smooth nut.

Mr. Bruce informs us, that the Balm tree is a native of Abyssinia, growing among the myrrh trees behind Azab, all along the coast, to the Straits of Babelmandel; and that it was early transplanted into the south of Arabia, and into Judea 1000 years before the queen of Sheba, who, according to Josephus, gave this tree, among other presents, to king Solomon.

Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Pliny, and even the Arabian physicians, supposed this balsam to be the produce of Judea only; and hence it seems to have received the name of Balsamum Judaicum, or Balm of Gilead. Forskal, who first discovered this tree to belong to the genus Amyris, transmitted a branch of it to Linnæus, which on being broken smelled strongly of the balsam; the leaves were all ternate, a character which corresponds exactly with the specimen in the possession of Sir Joseph Banks.

Besides this tree, which was found at Gidda, another was observed at Yemen, differing only from that found at Gidda, in having pinnated leaves. The former was first described by Linnæus in his Mantissa, under the name of A. Gileadensis, the latter under that of A. Opobalsamum; the name which he has adopted in his Materia Medica.

Whether these two species, the difference of which is supposed to consist merely in the number of their leafits, are really the same or not, we cannot undertake to determine; but judging from analogy, we should decide in the affirmative; for even in the figure of this tree, given by Alpinus, to which Linnæus refers the A. Opobalsamum, the number of the leafits varies much, being five, seven, and sometimes three; and in that published by Mr. Bruce, the larger leaves consist of five leafits, but the smaller only of three.

The description of the Balsam of Mecca tree, lately given by Gleditsch, differs from that of all other writers: he removes it from the genus Amyris, as not having the characters of that family; we shall therefore leave this author without making any further remark.

This balsam, which has been received in the different pharmacopacias under the names of balsamum de Mecca, Opobalsamum, Balsamum verum, and Balsamum Gileadense, issues spontaneously from the bark of the tree; but it is more commonly obtained by incisions the Xylobalsamum, as the name imports, is prepared from the wood, and the Carpobalsamum from the fruit. The balsam now imported into Europe is reported to be principally collected between Mecca and Medina. "The bark," Mr. Bruce says, "is cut by an axe, when the juice is in its strongest circulation in July, August, and the beginning of September. It is then received into a small earthen bottle, and every day's produce gathered and poured into a larger, which is kept closely corked. The Opobalsamum, or juice flowing from the balsam tree, at first when it is received into the bottle or vase from the wound from whence it issues, is of a light yellow colour, apparently turbid, in which there is a whitish cast, which I apprehend are the globules of air that pervade the whole of it in its first state of fermentation; it then appears very light upon shaking. As it settles and cools, it turns clear, and loses that milkiness which it first had when flowing from the tree into the bottle. It then has the colour of honey, and appears more fixed and heavy than at first. After being kept for years, it grows of a much deeper yellow, and of the colour of gold. I have some of it which I got from the Cadi of Medina in 1768; it is now still deeper in colour, full as much so as the yellowest honey. It is perfectly fluid, and has lost very little either of its taste, smell, or weight. The smell at first is violent, and strongly pungent, giving a sensation to the brain like that of volatile salts when rashly drawn up by an incautious person. This lasts in proportion to its freshness, for, being neglected and the bottle uncorked, it quickly loses this quality, as it probably will at last by age, whatever care is taken of it."

The balsam which one tree yields is very small, and the collecting of it is tedious and troublesome: hence it is so very scarce that

the genuine balsam is rarely if ever exported in a commercial way. The best balsam, according to Alpinus, is at first turbid and white, of a very strong pungent smell, like that of turpentine, but much sweeter and more fragrant, and of a bitter, acrid, astringent taste: on being kept for some time, it becomes thin, limpid, light, of a greenish hue, and then of a gold yellow, after which it grows thick like turpentine, and loses much of its fragrance. Some compare the smell of this balsam to that of citrons; others to that of a mixture of rosemary and sage flowers. The chief mark of its goodness is said to be founded on this, that when dropped on water it spreads itself all over the surface, forming a thin pellicle, tough enough to be taken up upon the point of a pin, and at the same time impregnating the water with its smell and flavour.

It appears on scripture authority, that the great value and use of this drug remounts to very early ages, as it seems coeval with the India trade for pepper. To enumerate all the virtues and medicinal uses still attributed to it by eastern nations, would be outraging the bounds of all rational credibility: but they who are desirous of this information may be gratified by consulting Alpinus. European physicians consider it to be not essentially different from other resinous fluids, or turpentines, especially as we find it imported here it is therefore generally believed, that the Canada. and Copaiva balsams will answer every purpose for which it can be employed. In Turkey it is not only in high esteem as a medicine, but also as an odoriferous unguent and cosmetic: its effects with respect to its last mentioned use seem to depend merely on its stimulating the skin; for it is observed by Lady Mary Wortley Montague, that the day after she had used the balsam, her face became red and swallen; an inconvenience which she suffered for three days.

[Pantologia. Bruce. Woodville.

SECTION XVI.

Balsam of Tolu Tree.

Toluifera Balsamum.-WOODV.

THIS is the only known species of the genus: it is a tree of considerable height, and send off numerous large branches, and

is covered with rough thick greyish bark; the leaves are elliptical or ovate, entire, pointed, alternate, of a light green colour, and stand upon short strong footstalks; the flowers are numerous, and produced in lateral racemi; the calyx is bell-shaped, divided at the brim into five teeth, which are nearly equal, but one is projected to a greater distance than the others: the petals are inserted into the receptacle, and are five in number, of which four are equal, linear, and a little longer than the calyx: the fifth is much the largest, inversely heart-shaped, and its heel is of the length of the calyx: the ten filaments are very short, and furnished with long antheræ the germen is oblong: there is no style: the stigma is pointed; the fruit is a round berry.

It grows in Spanish America, in the province of Tolu, behind Carthagena, whence we are supplied with the balsam, which is brought to us in little gourd-shells. This balsam is obtained by making incisions in the bark of the tree, and is collected into spoons, prepared for the occasion, from which it is poured into proper vessels.

This balsam is of a reddish yellow colour, transparent, in consistence thick and tenacious: by age it grows so hard and brittle, that it may be rubbed into a powder between the finger and thumb. Its smell is extremely fragrant, somewhat resembling that of lemons; its taste is warm and sweetish, and on being chewed it adheres to the teeth. Thrown into the fire it immediately liquifies, takes flame, and disperses its agreeable odour. Though it does not dissolve in water, yet if boiled in it for two or three hours, in a covered vessel, the water receives its odoriferous smell: water also suffers a similar impregnation from the balsam by distillation. With the assistance of mucilage it unites with water, so as to form a milky solution. It dissolves entirely in spirit of wine, and easily mixes with distilled oils, but less easily with those of the expressed kind. Distilled without addition, it produces not only an empyreumatic oil, of a pale dark colour, but sometimes a small portion of a saline matter, similar to that of the flowers of benzoine.

This balsam possesses the same general virtues with the former, and that of Peru; it is however less heating and stimulating, and may therefore be employed with more safety. It has been chiefly used as a pectoral, and is said to be an efficacious corroborant in gleets and seminal weaknesses. It is directed by the Pharmaco

poeias in the syrupus tolutanus, tinctura tolutana, and syrupus balsamicus.

[J. Banks. Woodville.

SECTION XVII.

Balsam of Copaiva Tree.

Copaifera Officinalis.-LINN.

THIS is the arbor baccifera Brasiliensis of Ray. The tree grows to a considerable height: it is covered with rough brown bark, and divides into numerous branches: the leaves are pinnated, large, consisting of four pair of pinnæ, which are alternate, except the undermost, which is nearly opposite; they are ovate, pointed, somewhat narrowed on one side, and placed upon short footstalks: the flowers are white, and produced in terminal branched spikes : there is no calyx: the petals are four, oblong, acute, concave, spreading the filaments are ten, slender, incurved, somewhat longer than the corolla, and crowned with antheræ, which are oblong, and incumbent: the germen is roundish, compressed, and stands upon a short pedicle: the style is filiform, incurved, about the length of the filaments, and furnished with an obtuse stigma: the fruit is an oval pod, of two valves, pointed with part of the remaining style: it contains one egg-shaped seed, involved in a berried tunic.

This tall and elegant tree is a native of South America, particularly Brazil, and some of the neighbouring islands; and it is said to have been discovered growing in the terra firma, in large woods, with those trees which afford several of our officinal balsams, especially that of Tolu and Peru. The resinous juice, called Balsam of Copaiva, is obtained from this tree by making incisions near the base of its trunk, extending not only through the bark but into the substance of the wood, when the balsam immediately issues, and at the proper season flows in such abundance, that sometimes in three hours twelve pounds have been procured. The older trees afford the best balsam, and yield it two or three times in the same year. The balsam supplied by the young and vigorous trees, which abound with the most juice, is crude and watery, and is therefore accounted less valuable. While flowing from the tree this balsam is a colour