BALSAM OF TOLU 343 



flow of balsam. Similar cuts are made higher up in the trees, some- 

 times as many as twenty incisions being made on one tree. The 

 balsam gatherer from time to time empties the exudation which 

 fill the calabashes into bags of hide. These are then shipped to 

 Savanilla and transferred to cylindrical tin vessels, in which form 

 they are sent to Europe. 



Description. A semi-liquid mass of a yellowish-red color, which 

 gradually hardens becoming yellowish- or reddish-brown; trans- 

 parent in thin layers; pulverizable, and showing numerous crystals 

 of cinnamic acid; odor agreeably aromatic, suggesting vanilla and 

 benzoic acid; taste aromatic, slightly pungent and acid. Soluble in 

 alcohol, acetone, chloroform and solutions of potassium hydrate. 

 An alcoholic solution (5 or 10 per cent) of tolu balsam gives an acid 

 reaction with litmus paper, a greenish color with a solution of ferric 

 chloride, and upon evaporation yields crystals of cinnamic acid. 



Constituents. About 7 per cent of an aromatic volatile oil, con- 

 sisting chiefly of benzyl benzoate and a small quantity of benzyl 

 cinnamate; from 0.2 to 1 per cent of a light volatile oil having a 

 pleasant, aromatic odor, suggestive of hyacinth. From 75 to 80 

 per cent of a resin consisting chiefly of a cinnamic ester of tolu- 

 resinotannol, and a small quantity of a benzoic ester of tolu-resino- 

 tannol. Tolu balsam also contains 0.25 per cent of vanillin; 12 to 

 15 per cent of free cinnamic acid and from 1 to 2 per cent of free 

 benzoic acid. 



Literature. Cocking and Kettle, Pharm. Jour., 1918, 101, p. 40. 



BAPTISIA. Radix Baptisiae Tinctoriae, Wild Indigo Root. 

 The dried rhizome and roots of Baptisia tinctoria, a perennial herb 

 growing in the eastern United States and Canada. The drug is 

 gathered in the fall, cut into small pieces and dried. 



Description. Rhizome cylindrical, branching, short, from 1 to 2 

 cm. in thickness; the terete roots usually in pieces, from 8 to 30 cm. 

 in length and 2 to 5 mm. in thickness, externally light reddish-brown, 

 longitudinally wrinkled, occasionally spirally twisted, cork some- 

 what scaly and roots with long wiry, somewhat branching rootlets; 

 fracture short, fibrous; inner surface light yellow, bark thick, and 

 easily separable from the porous radiate wood; odor distinct, fra- 

 grant; taste bitter and slightly acrid. 



Inner Structure. See Fig. 151. 



Powder. Light brown; starch grains numerous, either single 

 or compound, the individual grains spheroidal, plano-convex or 

 polygonal, from 0.003 to 0.015 mm. in diameter; tracheae with simple, 

 long slit-like pores or bordered pores; wood and bast fibers very long, 



