bromine, whilst that of true myrrh resin assumes a most intense 
co 
312 BURSERACEZ. 
yahud ; the brown, Sakalabi; and the rich reddish brown, 
Mukul-i-Arabi. Good Bdellium should be clean, bright, sticky, 
soft, sweet-smelling, yellowish, and bitter; when burnt it 
smells like Bay; it mixes readily with water, and is described 
as hot and dry; from the account of its properties in the 
Makhzan-el-Adwiya, it would appear to be used in very nearly 
the same way as myrrh. The cheaper kinds of Bdellium are 
largely used to give adhesiveness and polish to the fine plaster 
used by masons upon the ceilings and pillars of houses ; for 
this purpose the gum is dissolved, strained, and mixed with 
molasses. Indian Bdellium combined with Black pepper and 
Colchicum has a reputation in muscular rheumatism; it is 
given internally, and also applied to the painful part as a lép. 
Chemical composition.—Fliickiger remarks that Bdellium 
that of myrrh, being paler and redder; it is very sparingly 
soluble in bisulphide of carbon; this solution is not altered by 
violet colour; it is not soluble in petroleum ether. Of the 
gummy substance, which is by far the prevailing constituent of 
_ this drug, a small portion only is soluble in water. Parker has 
examined opaque bdellium with the following result :—“Opaque 
Bdellium (Balsamodendron Playfairii) is a very hard, yellow 
ochre-coloured, opaque gum-resin, with but slight odour and a 
bitter taste. In common with other exudations from the genera 
Balsamodendron and Boswellia, tears of this substance fre- 
- quently have portions of papery bark attached to their surface. 
Triturated with water, opaque bdellium formsa very good cream- 
coloured emulsion. Cold absolute alcohol dissolves about 50 
per cent.; the residue is not entirely soluble’ ingévater, the 
soluble portion swelling up and giving the characters of 
bassorin. 
. ‘The colouring matter appearseto be due tu a resin very 
_ soluble in alcohol, giving a canary-yellow coloured tincture; 
this resin is also soluble in ether, benzol and chloroform, 
The tincture (1 of gum-resin to 6 of rectified spirit) becomes 
_differs from myrrh in its stronger, almost acrid taste and in ~ 
odour ; it contains very little resin; this resin is different from — 
