30 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



University, in a private letter writes us as follows: 

 "There are two species of Nightshade growing about 

 Ithaca. The more common is Solanum Dulcamara, and 

 the second is Solanum nigra. These are both of Euro- 

 pean origin, and are escaped species." 



BENZOINUM (Benzoin, Gum Benjamin) 



Mentioned in all editions of the Pharmacopeia, from 1820 to 

 1910. The 1910 edition names as official the gum of Styrax Ben- 

 zoin, and "some other species of Styrax growing in the East 

 Indies.", 



Benzoinum, from Styrax Benzoin, curiously enough, 

 escaped the attention of the Greeks and Romans, nor, 

 so far as is known, did those energetic tradesmen of the 

 10th to the 13th centuries, the Arabians and Persians, 

 carry it to China. Ibn Batuta (333a), 1325-49, men- 

 tions "Java frankincense," which under the Arabian 

 name became corrupted into Banjawi, Benjui, Benzui, 

 Benzoe, Benzoin, and finally even to Benjamin. After 

 a hundred years, the sultan of Egypt, Melech Elmaydi, 

 sent it to the Doge of Venice among other presents, 

 and in 1490 a second Doge of Venice was presented with 

 a larger amount, by the same sultan of Egypt. Con- 

 sidered still a precious balsam, in 1476 Caterina Cor- 

 naro, queen of Cyprus, received from Egypt fifteen 

 pounds of "Benzui." Later travelers in Siam and the 

 Malabar Coast, Venetian tradesmen and others, gave 

 it due consideration. During and after this time it 

 became regularly imported into Europe. Being sub- 

 mitted to dry distillation in rude paper cones over a 

 pan, the condensed distillate, or flowers, under the name 

 of Flores Benzoes, in the 17th century, gave origin to 

 the now familiar Benzoic Acid. Thus from the em- 

 piricism of the past, this grateful flavoring agent, anti- 



