BALSAMUM DIPTEROCAEPI. 89 



Tne medicinal properties of Gurjuii balsam were pointed out by 

 O'Shaugbnessy^ as entirely analogous to those of copaiba; and his 

 observations were confirmed by many practitioners in India. This has 

 obtained for the drug a place in the Pharniacopoeut of India (18G8). 



Extraction — A recent account of the production of this drug is 

 found in the Reports of the Jury of the Madras Exhibition of 1865, 

 It is there stated that Wood Oil, as the balsam is commonly called, is 

 obtained for the most part from the coast of Buima and the Straits, and 

 is pi'ocured by tapping the trees about the end of the dry season. 

 Several deep incisions are made with an axe into the trunk of the tree and 

 a good-sized cavity scooped out In this, fire is placed^ and kept burn- 

 mg until the wood is somew^hat scorched, when the balsam begins to 

 exude, and is then led away into a vessel of bamboo. It is afterwards 

 alloAved to settle^ when a clear liquid separates from a thick portion 

 called the '' giiad!' The oil is extracted year after year, and sometimes 

 there are two or three holes in the same tree. It is produced in extra- 

 ordinary abundance; from 30 to 40 gallons according to Roxburgh may 

 sometimes be obtained from a single tree in the course of a season, 

 during which it is necessary to remove from time to time the old 

 charred surface of the wood and burn afresh. 



If a growing tree is felled and cut into piece, the oleo-resin exudes 

 and concretes on the w^ood, very much, it is said, resembling camphor (?) 

 and having an aromatic smell. 



Description — As Gurjun balsam is the produce of different trees as 

 ^v ell as of different countries, it is not surprising to find that it varies 

 considerably in its properties. 



The following observations refer to a balsam of which 400 lb. were 

 recently imported from Moulmein for a London drug firm. It is a 

 thick and viscid fluid, exhibiting a remarkable fluorescence, so that 

 ^wien seen by reflected light it appears 0[)aijue and of dingy greenish 

 S^'^y; yet when placed between the observer and strong daylight 

 ^t 18 seen to be perfectly transparent and of a dark-reddish brown.^ 

 t has a weak aromatic copaiba-like odour and a bitterish aromatic taste 

 0-Qft ^^ the persistent acridity of copaiba. Its sp. gr. at IQ'T C. is 



With the following liquids Gurjun affords perfectly clear solutions 

 ^hich are more or less fluorescent, namely pure benzol (from benzoate 

 ^1 ^Icium), cumol, chloroform, sulphide of carbon, essential oils. On 

 ^e other hand, it is not entirely soluble in methylic, ethylic, or araylic 

 ^cohol; in ether, acetic ether, glacial acetic acid, acetone, phenol 

 IjCarbolic acid), or in caustic potash dissolved in absolute alcohol 

 jj^^^>' ^^P\es of commercial benzin also are not capable of dissolving 

 st't ^ ^^^^^^^^ perfectly, but we have not ascertained on what con- 

 tb t ^*' ?^ ^^^^ benzin this depends. We have further noticed that 

 in tK^^*'^^^ of petroleum which is known as Petroleum Ether, contain- 

 IcsJt! n^*^^^ volatile hydrocarbons, docs not wholly dissolve the oleo- 



One hundred parts of the balsam warmed and shaken with 1000 



esm. 



1 MaL Med, 



' 1878 S"--^'' ^'TO'Uion Universelle 

 baUam ' fP- 1^^» it is stated that the 1813. 186. 

 Cluiui<,;i f ' '*^'^^"'^ i^ French Cochin « Bengal Dispensatory, 1842. 22. 



' Preferred, being a ' ' hulh hhinche. " 



