ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS ON STORAX. 149 



For these reasons, I am not prepared to renounce the opinion 

 that the Storax-tree of Dioscorides and other ancient writers 

 was the Styrox officinale of modern botanists, nor can I abandon 

 the idea that, like its congener S. Benzoin, it is capable of 

 yielding an aromatic resin, which was once obtained in suffi- 

 cient abundance to form an article of trade. 



Before quitting the subject of Storax, I think it desirable to 

 offer a few observations on some of the substances that are 

 known in pharmacy under that name, and first we will take styrax caia- 

 Styrax calamita. mita ' 



This drug, as found in English commerce, is so singularly 

 variable that it would be difficult to suppose it a natural pro- 

 duct. At Trieste, where certainly some of it is manufactured, 

 it is prepared (as I have ascertained on the spot) by mixing 

 the residual liquidambar bark called Cortex Thymiamatis, 

 reduced to coarse powder, with Liquid Storax. Such a mix- 

 ture I have prepared myself, and can assert that it constitutes 

 excellent "Styrax calamita." When first mixed (in the pro- 

 portion of 3 to 2) it forms a somewhat moist and clammy mass, 

 which in the course of a few weeks develops an infinity of 

 minute silky crystals, giving the whole an appearance of 

 mouldiness. If the bark is scarce, common sawdust, I am 

 informed, is substituted for it ; and olibanum, red earth, and 

 honey are also employed in producing Styrax calamita of 

 inferior quality. The drug is said to be manufactured also 

 at Venice and Marseilles. 



According to Professor Krinos, the Greek monks, particularly 

 those of the island of Symi, prepare by mixing olibanum with 

 Liquid Storax certain resinous cakes which they sell for incense 

 under the name of ^evBofioo-^o\L/3ai>ov or arovpa/cL It is a com- 

 pound of this sort that, in, my opinion, constitutes the Black Black Storax. 

 Storax described by Guibourt, Pereira and others, and not 

 unfrequently found in continental drug warehouses. In fact 

 I have more than once prepared such a mixture, which is 

 remarkably fragrant and quite devoid of the coal-tar-like odour 

 of Liquid Storax ; an efflorescence of cinnamic acid generally 

 develops itself on the surface of the mass. It is also this 



