- BURSERACEZ. 305 
Harris written in the time of Rameses the III., about 1250- 
_ B.C., and several inscriptions of a later date. (Newberry in 
_ Pharm. Journ., Nov. 17, 1888.) Myrrh is not much used by 
the Hindus. It is called Vola in Sanskrit, a word which 
pears to be the same as the Greek SeAos and the English Bole, 
signifying a lump of earth or clay. It is described as useful in 
fever, epilepsy, and uterine affections, and is given to women 
f 
rify the womb. ‘The similarity of its properties to those of 
Bdellium, which is an article of importance in Hindu medi- 
cine, probably accounts for its not having greatly attracted 
the attention of the Hindus upon its introduction into © 
L 
to flavour their wine; they also anointed their hair with 
a perfumed unguent made from it: “lautissima apud priscos 
vina erant, myrrhe odore condita.” Pl. 14, 15; “crines 
myrrha madidi,”’ Ovid. M. 10, 298, et seq. Itis es opupya — 
of Dioscorides, I., 69. According to a Greek myth, Myrrha, 
ashamed of her incest with her father Cinyrus, begged the 
ds to change her into some object neither dead or alive : 
she became the Myrrh tree. With the Mahometans Myrrh 
is an important article of the Materia Medica. They describe 
the tree which produces it as tall and handsome, with knotted 
branches, a native of Socotra and neighbouring countries, and ac 
Say that spears are made of the branches, which are solid and 
free from pith; that the juice when it first exudes is white 
and milky, and that the best Myrrh is obtained by making 
incisions in the tree. What exudes of itself is called Batéreh.* _ 
After the trees have been wounded, mats and vessels are 
placed to catch the juice. Balfour found several species « 
Balsamodendron growing in Socotra, one of which was 
30 feet high and ver y fragrant, but he did not obtain any o! 
the gum-resin- This plant is named by him B. en 
