s 



88 FAMILY HERBAL. 



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' - m 



threads ; the fruit is roimd^ and of a blood ted 

 when ripe* 



We use a resin which oozes from the bark of 

 large trees of this species in great plenty, and is 

 called copal ; it is of a pale yellow colour^ some- 

 times brownish, and often colourless^ and like gimi 

 arable ; we have a way of calling it a gum^ but 

 it is truly a resin ; and the yellow pieces of it ara 

 80 bright and transparent, that they very much re- 

 semble the purest amber. 



It is good against the whites, and against wea 



k- 



nesses left after the venereal disease ; but it is not' 

 so much used on these occasions as it deserves. 

 'It is excellent for making varnishes ; and what is 

 commonly called amber varnish among our artists 

 13 made from it. Amber will make a very fine var- 

 nish, better than that of copal, or any other kind ; 

 but it is dear. 



We sometimes see heads of canes of the colour- 

 less copal, which seem to be of amber, only they 

 want its colour ; these are made of the same resin 

 in the East Indies, vi^here it grows harder. 



Coral, Corallium. 



A SEA plant of the hardness of a stone, and 

 with very little of the appearance of an herb. 

 The red coral, which is the sort used in medicine, 

 grows a foot or more in height ; the trunk is a? 

 thick as a man's thumb, and the branches are 

 numerous. It is fastened to the rocks^ by a crust 

 which spreads over them, and is covered all over 

 with a crust also of a coarse substance and striated 

 texture. Towards the top there are flowers and 

 leeds^ but very small ; from these rise the young 

 plants. The seeds have a mucilaginous matter 



about them, which sticks them to the rocks. The 



