BALSAM OF PERU 285 



It is no longer possible to ascertain the quantity of Balsam Copaiva imported ; by, 

 as it appears to us, a very mistaken regulation of the Custom-house, it, and a great 

 many other articles, are entered under the head of ' Drugs unenumcrated' 



BAX.SAIYIXTO and WHITE BAI.SAIVX. By digesting the fruit of the Balsam 

 of Peru tree in rum, a liquid having a bitter taste, a light sherry colour, and the 

 odour of the tonquin-bean, is produced, called Balsamito. It is taken internally, and 

 used as an application to sloughing sores especially those of the chigoe. By sub- 

 jecting this fruit to pressure, without heat, White Balsam is obtained. It resembles 

 strained Bordeaux turpentine, and is sometimes confounded with balsam of Tolu. 



BALSAM, MECCA. (Baume de la Mecque, Baume du Judee, Fr.) Mecca 

 balsam, or opobalsam, or Balm of Gilead, is obtained both by incisions in, and by 

 boiling, the branches and leaves of the Balsamodendron opobalsamum, a shrub which 

 grows in Arabia Felix and Egypt. When fresh it is turbid and whitish, but becomes by 

 degrees transparent, yellow, thickish, and eventually solid. Its smell is peculiar, but 

 agreeable ; it tastes bitter and spicy ; does not dissolve completely in hot spirit of 

 wine, and contains 10 per cent, of ethereal oil of the specific gravity 0'876. It is also 

 obtained from B. Gileadense. 



BAZ.SAM OP PERU. (Baume du Perou, Fr. ; Peruvianischer Balsam, Ger.) 

 Balsam of Peru is extracted from the Myroxylon Peruiferum, a tree which grows in 

 Peru, Mexico, &c. ; sometimes by incision, and sometimes by evaporating the decoc- 

 tion of the bark and branches of the tree. The former kind is very rare, and is im- 

 ported in the husk of the cocoa-nut, whence it is called balsam en coque. It is brown, 

 transparent only in thin layers of the consistence of thick turpentine, of an agreeable 

 smell, an acrid and bitter taste ; formed of two matters, the one liquid, the other 

 granular, and somewhat crystalline. In 100 parts it contains 12 of benzoic acid, 88 

 of resin, with traces of a volatile oil. 



The second sort, the black balsam of Peru, is much more common than the pre- 

 ceding ; translucent, of the consistence of well-boiled syrup, very deep red-brown 

 colour, an almost intolerably acrid and bitter taste, and a stronger smell than the other 

 balsam. Stoltze regards it as formed of 69 parts of a peculiar oil, 207 of a resin 

 little soluble in alcohol, of 6 '4 of benzoic acid, of 0'6 of extractive matter, and 0'9 of 

 water. 



The celebrated Pomade Divine, which was a few years since very celebrated, con- 

 tained a considerable quantity of the balasm of Peru. One of the best recipes for its 

 preparation was the following : 



Fine olive oil . 18 ozs. 



Balsam of Peru 1 oz. 



Orris-root 6 drachms. 



Strained Storax 1 drachm. 



This, with some bruised nutmegs and cinnamon, was macerated in a water-bath for 

 three hours, and then filtered. 



A French authority states that, dissolved in four times its weight of alcohol, and 

 spread upon sarsanet already covered with a layer of isinglass, it formed the taffetas 

 d'Angleterre. 



One thousand parts of good balsam should, by its benzoic acid, saturate 75 parts of 

 crystallised carbonate of soda. It is employed as a perfume for pomatums, tinctures, 

 lozenges, sealing-wax, and for chocolate and liqueurs, instead of vanilla, when this 

 happens to be very dear. 



M. Victor le Nouvel, who has been engaged in collecting this balsam since 1836, 

 gives the following as the process used by the Indians to obtain it. An incision is 

 made into the tree of about two or three inches broad, and three to four inches long. 

 They raise the bark from the wood and apply cotton rags to it ; a fire being lighted 

 round the tree to liquefy the balsam. Fresh incisions are made higher and higher iip 

 the tree, till the cotton rags are quite saturated. It takes from ten to twelve days to 

 effect this. The rags are next boiled, and when the liquor is cold, the balsam collects 

 below. Pereira's Materia Medica. 



Balsam of Peru has been for some years exported from the State of Salvador On 

 the coast of Chiquimulilla (Guatemala) there are many trees of the description that 

 yield the balsam, but hitherto it has not attracted the attention of the people to 

 collect it. 



The Balsam of Peru of Salvador is procured within the department of Sonsonate. 

 The British Consul thus describes its production : 



In the district of Cuisnagua there are 3,574 trees, which yield altogether only 

 600 Ibs. of the gum annually. With proper care in the extraction, each tree would 

 yield 2 Ibs. to 3 Ibs., making the total quantity capable of being produced in the 



