OCTOBKR 1, 1891.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



195 



VARIABLE STARS OF SHORT PERIOD. 



* Note.— T. Trian Australis is not included in the 19 Variables mentioned in Mr. Gore's paper, as its variability has not yet been coufinned. 



THE PERFUMES OF ANTIQUITY. 



By J. Ch. 8awer, F.L.S. 

 kROBABLY the word "perfume" is derived from 

 per fuinum, " by the aid of smoke," and originated 

 in that most ancient custom of burning resinous 

 substances and aromatic woods in religious cere- 

 monies, thus creating an odoriferous smoke, 

 which was doubtless of advantage in the early form of 

 worship as a disinfectant or deodorizer m counteracting the 

 offensive odours of the burning flesh of the offerings. In 

 other countries where animals were not slaughtered and 

 burned, the incense no doubt acted on the mystical imagi- 

 nation of the worshipper, its overpowering vapours 

 throwing him into a religious ecstasy conducive to the 

 belief in the acceptance of his prayer as he observed the 

 gradual ascent of the smoke from the altar and its dispersion 

 in space. 



The incense ordered for the ser\ice of the . Taber- 

 nacle, to be burned in a censer and on the Altar, consisted 

 of Stacte, Onycha, Galbanum and Frankincense in equal 

 parts. 



Stacte {(TTaxTT)), which is the Greek translation of the 

 Hebrew word ipj (nataph), signifies a liquid exudation, 

 or something fluid. Phny describes it as the natural 

 exudation of the myrrh-tree, flowing without the tree 

 being pmictured, and more esteemed than myrrh itself. 

 Theophrastus also mentions two sorts of myrrh, one 

 liquid and one solid. 



Onycha is the Hebrew Scliccheleth, " odoriferous shell." 

 It is the opcrculmii of a species of Stromhttx, formerly 

 well known in Europe under the name of lUatta 

 li!/:&>iti)ia,ionnim the Mediterranean and in the Eed Sea, 

 from which latter the Israelites no doubt procured it. It 

 is occasionally to bo seen at the Custom House of J>ombay, 

 where it is imported to burn with incense in the temples, 

 not so much on account of any pleasing odour of its own 

 as to bring out the odour of other perfumes. It is a white 

 transparent shell, resembling in shape the human finger- 

 nail ; hence its Greek name ovu£, mii/.r, a finger-nail. It is 

 generally believed that the tish inhabiting this shell 

 acquires its peculiar odour by feeding on a species of 

 Indian Nard. 



Galbanum ■iw'?" {Chdhcnuh). The word signifies some- 

 thing unctuous, and evidently applies to a balsam. 

 According to some authorities it is a fine sort of galbanum 

 found on Mount Amomus in Syria, differing entirely from 

 the ordinary galbanum now used in medicine, of which the 

 odour is anything but sweet. But the fashions of this 

 world change, and if we, in our day, find no sweetness in 

 galbanum, saffron, and spikenard, it is no reason why the 

 ancients did not, and no reason wliy Orientals should 

 not, even now. At the present day the Persians call asa- 

 foetida " the food of the gods," the Russians deUght in 

 caviare, and the Esquimaux in train oil. 



As an example of the preservation of ancient Jewisli 

 customs, galbanum still forms one of the ingredients of 

 the incense now used in the Irviugite chapels in London. 



Frankincense. — This is largely imported into London 

 under the name of Gum Olibauum, and is used principally 

 in the manufacture of incense for the Roman CathoUc and 

 Greek Churches. The Greek word Xi^xvo;, the Latin 

 Olihumiiii, the Arabic Luiian, and analogous words in other 

 languages are all derived from the Hebrew Lcbonah, 

 which signifies milk, in allusion to the sap of the trees, 

 which, before becoming dry by exposure to the air, has the 

 appearance of milk. This drug was imported into Chin;i 

 from Arabia as far back as the tenth century, and is st;ll 

 imported to an enormous extent at Shanghai to this day, 

 under the name of .fu-aianii, meaning pfifiinu- «/ inill,-, 

 being always in allusion to the meaning of its Hebrew 

 name [aIhihuIi. 



Olibanum is derived from several species of Boswellia, 

 indigenous to the hot arid regions of Eastern Africa, the 

 southern coast of Arabia, and some parts of India. t 



The trees vary greatly in height, averaging about twenty 

 feet ; their form is very graceful, and when springing from 

 a massive rock on the brink of a precipice their appearance 

 is very picturesque. 



The harvest of this drug in Southern Arabia is thus 

 described by Carter: — "During the months of May and 



t An cnumomtion and deseription of these trees is given by 

 Birdwood in the " Transactions of the Linniuan Society ," xxvii., p. 3, 

 and in the " Journal of the Bombay Bninch of the Royal Asiatic 

 Society," ii., p. 380. 



