220 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



for Oriental products in very early days, refers to the 

 Arabian town, situated in the bowl of a volcano. It is 

 distant several miles from "new Aden," (Adenport), the 

 village seen from steamers. Theophrastus (633), Pliny 

 (514), and other early writers mention myrrh, which 

 from all times has been valued in domestic medicine 

 for its aromatic qualities. It is also a constituent of 

 incense. In Herodotus (314a), (Macaulay, Book II, 

 p. 153), it is named as one of the substances used by 

 the Egyptians in embalming the dead. Let us quote: 



"First with a crooked iron they draw out the brains 

 through the nostrils, extracting it partly thus and partly 

 by pouring in drugs; and after this with a sharp stone 

 of Ethiopia they make a cut along the side and take 

 out the whole contents of the belly, and when they have 

 cleared out the cavity and cleansed it with palm-wine 

 they cleanse it again with spices pounded up; then they 

 fill the belly with pure myrrh pounded up and with 

 cassia and other spices except frankincense, and sew it 

 together again." 



In order to give the standing of myrrh in early Euro- 

 pean medicine, as well as to illustrate the fact that 

 adulteration is not a modern innovation, we quote from 

 Motherby's Medical Dictionary (45 Ib), 1775: 



"Myrrha. (Myrrh.) It is also called stacte. It is a 

 gummy resinous concrete. It is brought immediately 

 from Alexandria, Smyrna, and Aleppo; but from what 

 plant it is obtained is uncertain. It is brought to us in 

 globes or drops of various colours and sizes. Chuse 

 such as is of a reddish brown colour, not verging too 

 much to yellowish or blackish; such as is uniform on 

 the outside, internally speckled or streaked with white, 



