BENZOIN, OR BENJAMIN TREE. 



669 



many uses of it besides giving it to their Iiorscs 

 as a medicine. 



A patent has been recently taken out in Lon- 

 don, for applying the mucilage extracted from 

 the seed of the carob tree, commonly called St 

 John's bread. This is of so strong a gummy 

 consistency, that one pound of this is said to 

 produce an equal effect with eight pounds of 

 gum Senegal, and nine or ten pounds of gum 

 Arabic. 



The seeds, after being divested of their skins 

 by the agency of sulphuric acid, are dried, and 

 then ground in a mill, and the powder thus 

 obtained is the mucilaginous matter. 



Benzoin, or Benjamin TREE(stj/rax benzoin). 

 Natural family cbenaccoe; decandria, monogynia. 



Benzoin. 



of Linnueus. This tree is a native of Sumatra. 

 It is of quick growth, and attains a considerable 

 height. The stem sends off many strong, round 

 branches, which are covered with a whitish, 

 downy bark. The leaves are oblong, entire, 

 tapering to a point, smooth on the upper surface, 

 and downy on the under; and they stand alter- 

 nately upon short footstalks. The flowers are 

 produced in bunches, and usually hang all on 

 the same side, upon short, slender pedicles. 

 The calyx is short, bell-shaped, and downy. 

 The corolla is nionopetalous, downy, and of a 

 grayish colour. The fruit is a pulpy pericarp, 

 containing one or two oval compressed nuts. 



The tree begins to aiFord benzoin in the sixth 

 year of its age, or when the trunk has acquired 

 a diameter of seven or eight inches. The bark 

 is then cut through longitudinally, or somewhat 

 obliquely at the origin of the principal lower 

 branches, from which the drug exudes in a liquid 

 state; and by exposure to the sun and air, soon 

 concretes, when it is scraped off from the bark 

 with a knife or chissel. The quantity of benzoin 

 which one tree affords, never exceeds three 

 pounds; nor are the trees found to sustain the 

 effects of these annual incisions, longer than ten 

 or twelve years. The benzoin which issues first 

 from the wounded bark, is the purest, being 

 soft, extremely fragrant, and very white; that 

 which i.s less esteemed, is of a brownish colour. 



very hard, and mixed with various impurities, 

 which it acquires during its long continuance on 

 the trees. There are three kinds distinguished 

 according to purity and lightness of colour; the 

 best being white, and the inferior of a dark or 

 deep brown colour. In Arabia, Persia, and 

 other parts of the East, the coarser kinds are 

 consumed for fumigating and perfuming tho 

 temples, and for destroying insects. The benzoin 

 found in the shops in this country, is in large 

 brittle masses, composed partly of white, partly 

 of yellowish, or light brown, and often also of 

 darker coloured pieces. This resin has very little 

 taste, impressing on the palate only a slight 

 sweetness; but its smell, especially when rubbed 

 or heated, is extremely ft-agrant and agreeable. 

 It totally dissolves in rectified spirit of wine, the- 

 impurities excepted, into a deep, yellowish, red 

 liquor; and in this state discovers a degree of 

 warmth and pungency, as well as sweetness. It 

 imparts to water also a considerable share of its 

 fragrance, and a slight pungency : the filtered 

 liquor gently exhaled, leaves not a resinous or 

 mucilaginous extract, but a crystalline matter, 

 amounting to one-tenth, or one-eighth of the 

 benzoin. Exposed to the action of heat in a retort, 

 it yields a quantity of a light semi-crystallized 

 matter, which is benzoic acid. This has an acid- 

 ulous taste, and all the peculiar odour of benzoin. 

 Benzoin is supposed to possess little medicinal 

 virtues, and is used chiefly to give a flavour to 

 pectoral mixtures. It is employed in the pre- 

 paration of perfumes. 



Storax,OT Styrax Tree(styrazofficmale). This is 

 another species of the same genus, and is a native 

 of Italy and the Levant. It usually attains the 

 height of twenty feet. The stem sends off many 

 strong branches, which are covered with a roughish 

 bark of a gray colour. The leaves are broad, 

 elliptical, entire, slightly pointed, smooth above, 

 and underneath covered with a whitish down. 

 The flowers are large, white, and disposed in 

 clusters upon short peduncles, terminating the 

 branches. The corolla is monopetalous, and 

 divided into five lanceolate segments. The fruit 

 is a nut, contained in a pulpy pericarp. 



This tree was first cultivated in England by 

 Gerard; and although it is indigenous to many 

 of the southern parts of Europe, yet the resin 

 which it produces is only to be obtained in per- 

 fection from trees of the same species growing in 

 Asiatic Turkey. The storax issues in a fluid 

 state from incisions made in the bark of the 

 trunk, or branches of the tree; and as it was 

 formerly the custom to collect and export this 

 gum resin in reeds, it obtained the name of cala- 

 mity styrax, 



Tliere are two kinds usually kept in the shops, 

 one is in irregular, compact masses, free from 

 impurities, of a yellowish, or reddish brown 

 colour, and interspersed with whitish tears, some- 



