248 ODOROGRAPHIA. 
When the bark residue is scarce common sawdust is used as a 
substitute, and inferior qualities are made up of olibanum, honey, 
red earth, and other substances. ‘This drug is manufactured at 
Trieste, Venice, and Marseilles. 
Other odoriferous substances are compounded from liquid 
storax, amongst which may be mentioned the “ Black Storaz” 
which Pereira notices*; it is a brownish-black substance which 
by degrees moulds itself to the shape of the vessel in which it is 
enclosed. In Hanbury’s opinion it is this Black Storaz, composed 
of olibanum and liquid storax made into cakes, which is sold for 
incense under the name of yrevdouocxorrBavov or otopaxt by the 
Greek monks, particularly those of the island of Symi, and it 
is also this substance which constitutes the “ precious incense” 
used at Easter in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, 
and of which small pieces are sold to the pilgrims at an enormous 
price,—not for burning, but chiefly to be used as a charm. 
“ Cake Storar”’ is met with in large blocks of 50 or 60 lbs. 
weight packed in canvas; it is brownish red, easily pulverized to 
coarse powder which can be again united into a mass by pressure. 
This is probably made of the bark coarsely ground im a mill and 
deprived of the bulk of its resin. 
Resin of Liguidambar Styracifiua, Linnzeus, is the produce of 
the “ Liquidambar tree” of Louisiana, Florida, Mexico, and 
Guatemala. In the United States it forms a very large tree, 
known as the ‘‘ Sweet Gum tree” which in southern latitudes 
attains an immetise size, the balsamic exudation being much more 
abundant. It yields two sorts of balsam, physically different in 
character. The one is a thick, transparent, yellow oily fluid, 
which by age or exposure to the air becomes darker in colour and 
concretes. This is called “ Liguidambar liquid.” It has a strong, 
agreeably balsamic odour, and an aromatic very bitter taste. It 
contains a large quantity of benzoic or cinnamic acid, a drop of 
it on litmus paper producing a deep red coloration. On being 
treated with boiling alcohol, a small quantity of white residue is 
precipitated. This balsam is obtained by making incisions in the 
bark of the tree, and immediately receiving the liquid into bottles 
to protect it from the action of the air. It is afterwards decanted, 
to separate an opaque portion which deposits at the bottom. The 
* Mat. Med. ii. pt. i. p. 680. 
