STOBAX. 129 



ON STORAX. 1857. 



" Verum ad accuratam ac diligentem Materise Medicse tractationem instituen- 

 dam, reraedii cujusque historian! et virtutes a medicis recensitas exponere non 

 sufficit ; sedetiam multa insuperconsiderandasuntacperpendenda." GEOFFROY, 

 Tract, de Mat. Med. 



WRITERS on Ma,teria Medica, ancient as well as modern, have Liquid and 

 generally concurred in applying the name Storax or Styrax 

 to two distinct substances, namely Liquid and Solid Storax. I 

 might almost say to two groups of substances, since each compre- 

 hends two or more varieties. 1 



The plant to which Storax, at least the solid kind, is com- 

 monly referred, is Styrax officinale, Linn., a small tree of the Nat. 

 Ord. jStyracece, occurring in Provence, Italy and the Levant. It 

 is this tree, to which all authors admit, the account of Storax 

 given by Dioscorides in the first century refers. 2 In fact, it is 

 not unreasonable to suppose that a tree so nearly allied to that 

 producing Benzoin, should be capable of affording an analogous 

 product. 



That it may under certain favourable circumstances exude a 

 fragrant resin, even in France and Italy, we know from the 

 positive testimony of two authors, the first of whom, Duhamel, Duhamel. 

 has written in these words : 



" J'ai trouve en Provence, pres de la Chartreuse de Montrieu, 

 sur de gros Aliboufiers, des ecoulements assez considerables d'un 

 baume tres-odorant. II n'est pas douteux, ce me semble, que 

 ces Aliboufiers ne fournissent du Storax." 3 



1 A conventional distinction of confining the name Storax to the solid 

 drug and Styrax to the liquid, is adopted by some modern authors. But as 

 such a use of terms leads to some inconsistency, I have not adopted it, but 

 employ the word Storax as the English equivalent of the original Greek 

 word 2rupa. 



2 Perhaps I ought to except Professor Orphanides of Athens, who has 

 hinted that the text of Dioscorides on the subject of Storax, requires 

 correction. Bulletin de la Societe Botanique de France. T. iij. p. 147. 



3 Traite des Arbres. Paris, 1755. 4to, t. ij. p. 289. Montrieu or Mon- 

 tr ieux is a little place about 10 miles to the north of Toulon, in the 

 department of the Var. In this neighbourhood the Styrax grows wild. 



In order to endeavour to obtain an authentic specimen of the exudation of 

 Styrax officinale, I wrote to my friend Dr. Planchon of Montpellier, who at 

 my suggestion kindly caused incisions to be made during the hottest part of 

 last summer, in the trunk and branches of a large and fine Styrax growing in 



