378 



BOTANICAL ORIGIN AND COUNTRY OF MYRRH. 



1873. 



vcl suffimen. 



ward of Egypt was included) is identical with that still collected 

 in Morocco. That this Morocco drug resembles the Persian or 

 ordinary kind is evident from the fact that London drug 

 brokers have classed it as ammoniacum in their catalogues, 

 and it is probable enough that the two drugs were confounded 

 together at a very early period. 



The Morocco gum-resin is used in fumigation ; it is worthy of 

 note that the ammoniacum spoken of by Celsus, Galen, Oribasius, 

 Alexander Trallianus, Paulus ^Egineta and Actuarius, that is to 

 say by the Greek and Roman physicians who lived between the 

 first and thirteenth centuries, is frequently described as lliymiama 

 or svffimen, i.e., an incense, or something used for fumigation. 



1873. 



Botanical 

 origin. 



THE BOTANICAL ORIGIN AND COUNTRY OF 

 MYRRH. 1 



(Heimat und Abstammung der Myrrh.) 



THE remarks relative to myrrh in the Admiralty Manual of 

 Scientific Inquiry, 1859 and 1871, 2 having elicited no information, 

 it may tend to stimulate those who are located in positions 

 favourable for research if the state of our knowledge on the 

 subject is briefly explained. The direction in which investi- 

 gations should be made will thus become more apparent. 



Myrrh is a gum-resin, exuding from the stem of a small tree 

 or shrub which is a native of the hot and dry countries around 

 the southern extremity of the Red Sea. Though the substance 

 itself has been known to mankind from the remotest period of 

 history, and though it has been among the most precious articles 

 of ancient commerce, the tree which affords it is almost per- 

 haps altogether unknown to botanists. Whether the myrrh- 

 tree belongs to a single species is doubtful ; it is more probable 

 that the drug is furnished by two or three distinct but allied 

 species. 



j Reprinted from Ocean Highways, for April, 1873. 

 Vidt Pharm. Journ., i. (1863), 217 ; ii. (1871), 205. 



