LADAXUM. 309 



Ladanisterium would not be applied to other plants, and would not 

 contain the hairs of sheep or goats tvliich would give off ammoniacal 

 odours wJien the drug is hurned as ince^ise. 



The quantity annually produced depends much on the state of 

 the weather. It is said that about 6000 lbs. of the drug are 

 annually exported from Crete, and about 2500 lbs. to 2800 lbs. 

 from Cyprus. Some Ladanum is also collected in Spain and 

 Portugal, but not exported. The price is very variable, being 

 affected by the colour, odour, and consistence of the drug ; that of 

 a deep brown, and such as mell.s most readily, is preferred. The 

 oriental mode of applying this test to examine the quality, is to 

 place a fragment of the drug on the edge of a " Mangal " (a copper 

 stove, which w^hen filled with lighted charcoal is placed in the 

 middle of an apartment) and if the ladanum very rapidly melts 

 into a transparent liquid, it may be regarded as of the best quality. 



The purest ladanum has a dark-reddish or almost black colour 

 externally, and internally it is greyish. It readily softens by the 

 heat of the hand. Its odour is very agreeable and balsamic ; its 

 odour has also been compared to that of ambergris. Its taste is 

 balsamic, bitterish and slightly acrid. It is very inflammable, and 

 burns with a clear flame. A sample of Cyprian ladanum " m 

 hacculis" accompanying Dr. Landerer's paper to the Pharmaceutical 

 Society, examined by Daniel Hanbury, yielded on combustion 37"7 

 per cent, of ash ; while two other samples from a different source, 

 left respectively 60*4 and 86*0 per cent, of incombustible matter. 

 It is commonly very largely contaminated with sand and other 

 earthy matters, sometimes to the extent of above 70 per cent. 

 Guibourt found in pure ladanum 86 per cent, of resin, 7 per cent, 

 of wax, a little volatile oil, and small quantities of unimportant 

 constituents. 



Pure Ladanum is almost entirely soluble in rectified spirit, 

 forming a gold-coloured solution. An essential oil has been 

 obtained by distilling the leaves ; its sp. gr. is 0'925 at 15^ C. It 

 boils between 165^ and 280^ under partial decomposition, with a 

 strong odour of acetic acid. The odour of the oil is unpleasantly 

 narcotic and stupifying, differing from the odour given off when a 

 piece of the gum is dropped into ignited charcoal. 



A large quantity of very old Ladanum, of greyish-brown colour, 

 has recently been distilled by Messrs. Schimmel and Co., — the 



