VARIOUS OPINIONS ENTERTAINED. 137 



1. Niven Ker, Esq., who was for several years British Consul 1857. 

 at Rhodes, informed me that he was quite ignorant of the carry- Testimonies 

 ing on in that island of the manufacture described by Dr. cited< 

 Landerer. 



2. Sidney H. Maltass, Esq., of Smyrna,- in a letter to me 

 under date 7 October, 1853, speaking of Liquid Storax, says 

 " Cos and Rhodes produce none." 



3. Lieutenant Robert Campbell, R.N., H.B.M. Consul at 

 Rhodes, writes from Rhodes under date 16 December, 1855, 

 that Dr. Landerer, in attributing to the islands Cos and Rhodes 

 the production of Storax, has committed an egregious error, as 

 they have never produced it. 



Moreover, the evidence of Mr. Maltass proves, as I shall 

 shortly show, that Styrax qfficinale is not the tree yielding 

 Liquid Storax. 



There are other exceptional points in Dr. Landerer's account 

 which I will for the present pass over, remarking only that the 

 statement that liability to the punishment of death is incurred 

 in the case of a person being detected adulterating Storax with 

 turpentine, is characterized by Lieutenant Campbell as " a mere 

 invention." 



Previous to detailing the information which I have collected 

 as to the method of preparing Liquid Storax, it will be well 

 briefly to review the various opinions which have been held as 

 to its origin. 



1. Many of the older writers on Materia Medica consider it Origin of 

 an artificial compound; Dale, in particular, asserts that what 



was found in the London shops in his time (1693) was alto- 

 gether factitious. 1 



2. Those writers who adopt Dr. Landerer's statement, regard 

 Liquid Storax as the produce of Styrax officinale, Linn. 



3. By many authors, Liquid Storax is referred to Liquidam- 

 bar styraciflua, Linn., a tree found in the southern part of the 



1 " Verum quod in officinis nostris pro Styrace liquido venditur omnino 

 factitia res est, ut certior factus sura a pharmacopolis variis Londinensibus." 

 Pharmacologia, Lond. 1,093, p. 427. 



