54 VEGETABLE DRUGS WITHOUT ORGANIC STRUCTURE. 



COPAL. 



The different copal resins are derived from a great 

 variety of plants, both fossil and recent, the botanical 

 names of which are not definitely determined. The 

 name is applied to a number of extremely hard resins; 

 softer varieties appear in the English market under the 

 name Animi. The harder sorts of copal are derived 

 from fossiliferous trees. 



In the recent state the resins may be obtained from 

 species of Trachylohium mossamhicense, Klotzsch, Hy- 

 mencea and Guihourtia copalltfera, from Africa, South 



America, and the West 

 Indies. 



It occurs for the most 

 part in irregular pieces, 

 spherical, flattened or 

 angular, pale yellowish 

 in the better sorts, to 

 reddish and brownish, 

 the surface being irreg- 

 FiG. 4.— Copal. .^^i^^. ^^^ warty, in the 



Superficial view of gum copal. rr -^ i a i 



Zanzibar and Ancola 

 variety, covered with a crust in the South American 

 copals. It is hard, in the mineral scale about three, 

 transparent or translucent, with a glassy concave frac- 

 ture, having a tendency to break in six-sided fragments. 

 It is odorless and tasteless. 



As the sources from which this resin is derived are num- 

 erous and as each kind varies somewhat, the description 

 becomes extremely complicated. A few of the more 

 important kinds may be mentioned. 



Zanzibar and Mozambique Copal. — This is found in drops 

 3 to lo cm. in diameter or in flattened plates with a trans- 

 verse diameter of lo to 20 cm. Opaque, mixed with sand, 

 finely warty. On fracture, which is brittle, the broken 



