BALSAMUM TOLUTANUM 27 



over $200 an ounce! Pope Pius V permitted the Bishop 

 of the Indies to substitute this Balsam of Guatemala 

 for that of Egypt in the preparation of the chrism used 

 in the Catholic churches. Various early descriptions 

 of travelers refer to it more or less enthusiastically, 

 between the conquest of Guatemala, 1524, and 1628, 

 at which date Hernandez (314) described the tree. 

 From the domestic use of the drug it crept into German 

 pharmacy in the beginning of the 17th century. In 

 consequence of the fact that the exports of Guatemala 

 came through the port of Lima, Peru, the misleading 

 name of "Peruvian Balsam" was in the early days 

 affixed to it, paralleling somewhat the record of "Mocha 

 coffee," which is not grown in Mocha, or even there- 

 about, but was exported therefrom in the early days of 

 Arabian coffee. 



BALSAMUM TOLUTANUM (Balsam of Tolu) 



Official in all editions of the U. S. P., from 1820 to 1910. 

 Until 1850, however, its official name was Tolutanum (Toluifera 

 balsamum, 1820, Myroxylon Toluiferum, 1830 and 1840), excepting 

 in the New York edition, 1830, in which the modern name, Bal- 

 samum Tolutanum, was first employed. 



Balsam Tolu was found in use by the natives on the 

 discovery of its native countries, and is today collected 

 after the primitive manner, as is also true of "Balsam 

 of Peru." Monardes (447) hi his treatise, 1574, on 

 West Indian productions, describes the Indian method 

 of incising the bark and affixing shells of black wax to 

 receive the balsam, in a district near Cartagena called 

 Tolu, from which the material takes its name. This 

 method of collecting the drug reminds us of that em- 

 ployed in Asia Minor, of collecting the juice of the 

 Scammony plant, in the half shell of the clam. Mo- 



