Bark- 
Theophraftus, Diofcorides, Pliny, and even the Arabian phyficians, 
fuppofed thisBalfam to be the produce of Judea only; and hence it feems 
to have received the name of Balfamum Judaicum, or Balm of Gilead. 
Forfkal, who firft difcoyered this tree to belong to the genus Amyris, 
tranfmitted a branch of it to Linnseus, which on being broken fmelled 
ftrongiy of the Balfam ; the leaves were all ternate, like thofe of the 
annexed figure, which correfponds exadly with the fpecimen in the 
ponefTion of Sir Jofeph Banks. 
Befides this tree, which was found at Gidda, another was obferved 
at Yemen, differing only from that found at Gidda, in having pinnated 
leaves. The former was firft defcribed by Linnseus in his MantifTa, 
under the name A. Gileadenfis, the latter under that of A. Opobalfa- 
ijium ; the name which he has adopted in his Materia Medica. 
Whether thefe two fpecies, the difference of which is fuppofed to 
confift merely in the number of their foliola, are really the fame or 
not, we cannot undertake to determine ; but judging from analogy 
we mould decide in the affirmative ; for even in the figure of this 
tree, given by Alpinus, to which Linnseus refers the A.Opobalfamum, 
the number of the leafits varies much, being five, feven, and fometimes 
three ; and in that publifhed by Mr. Bruce, the larger leaves confift of 
five leafits, but the fmaller only of three. 
The defcription of the Balfam of Mecca-tree, lately g 
Gleditfch, differs from that of all other writers : he removes it from 
the genus Amyris, as not having the characters of that family ; a we 
fhall therefore leave this author without making any further remark. 
This Balfam, which has been received in the different Pharmacopoeias 
under the names of Balfamum de Mecca, Opobalfamum, Balfamum 
verum, and Balfamum Gileadenfe, iffues fpontaneoufly from the bark of 
the tree ; but is more commonly obtained by incifions : the Xylobalfa- 
mum, as the name imports, is prepared from the wood, and the Carpo- 
balfamum from the fruit. The Balfam now imported into Europe is 
reported to be principally collected between Mecca and Medina. The 
. 
ark, Mr. Bruce fays, " is cut by an axe, b when the juice is in its ftrongeft 
a 
See Schrlft. d. Berlin. Gefellfchafi Naturforfch. Freunde. vol. 3. p. 1 03 
k Tacitus fays this tree was fo averfe to iron, that it trembled upon a 1< 
»t : and feme pretend that the incifions fhould be made with ivory, fhe 
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39 
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