SECTION III. 

 G U M S . 



FRANKINCENSE. 



THIS was an aromatic and odoriferous gum, which issued from 

 a tree not certainly known, called by the ancients Thurifera. Theo- 

 phrastus says, its leaves resemble those of a pear-tree : Pliny varies 

 in his description, sometimes conforming to Theophrastus, but at 

 other times stating it to be a kind of laurel, and even a kind of tur- 

 pentine tree. 



There are two kinds of incense the male and the female ; the 

 former, which is the best, is round, white, fat, and very inflamma- 

 ble ; the latter is soft, more gummy, and less agreeable in smell 

 than the other. Frankincense formed one of the ingredients in the 

 sacred perfume (Exod. xxx. 34), and from Isa. Ix. 6, and Jer. vi.20, 

 we learn that it was imported into Judea from Sheba. 



It formed one part of the priest's duty, under the Mosaic econo- 

 my, to burn incense in the holy apartment of the temple, on the 

 morning and evening of each day; and on the great day of atone- 

 ment, at the moment of entering into the lioly of holies, the high 

 priest was required to throw some incense on the fire in his censer, 

 that the cloud occasioned by its burning might cover the mercy 

 seat. (Lev. xvi. 13), lest, perhaps, his curiosity being excited, he 

 might be induced to inspect with too profane a curiosity that sym- 

 bol of the Divine Presence. 



GALBANUM. 



NEARLY the whole of those articles which are now passing under 

 our review, entered into the composition of the holy anointing oil, 

 or the sacred perfumes, as described in Exod. ch. xxx. The fgal- 

 banum is a gum issuing from an umbelliferous plant, growing in 

 Persia and many parts of Africa. It is soft like wax, and when 

 fresh drawn, white ; but it afterwards becomes yellowish or red- 

 dish. It is of a strong, smell, of an acrid and bitterish taste, inflam- 

 mable in the manner of a resin, and soluble in water like gum. 



