660 



HISTORV OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



wUat like guin ammoniac, or benzoin; it is 

 extremely fragrant, and readily melts with heat. 

 Tlie other kind is in large masses, very light, 

 and bears no external resemblance whatever to 

 the former, as it seems almost wholly composed 

 of dirty saw dust, merely caked together by tlie 

 resinous matter; and though much less esteemed 

 than the purer kinds of storax, yet when freed 

 from tlie woody part, it is said to possess more 

 fragrance, and is superior to the other. It is 

 readily dissolved in rectified spirits. It imparts 

 to water in which it has been infused, a deep, 

 yellow colour, a slight odour, and balsamic taste; 

 by distillation it gives out more of its fragrance, 

 but does not yield an essential oil. The spirit- 

 uous solution gently distilled off from the filtered, 

 reddish liquor, brings over with it very little of 

 the fragrance of the storax, while the remaining 

 resin is more fragrant than the finest storax in 

 the tear. The pure resin distilled without addi- 

 tion yields, along with an empyreumatic oil, a 

 portion of benzoic acid, similar to the flowers of 

 benzoin. 



Among the ancients storax was a common 

 medicine, and was generally'- used in coughs, 

 colds, asthma, and other affections of the chest. 

 In modem practice, however, it is seldom em- 

 ployed, except like benzoin, with which, indeed, 

 it is almost identical, as a pleasing perfume, and 

 to give flavour to other medicines. 



Cretan Cistus (cistiis crcticus). Natural 

 family cistinem; polt/andria, monogynia, of Lin- 

 useus. This handsome shrub seldom rises to any 

 considerable height; it is covered with a dark 

 coloured bark, and sends off^ several simple 

 branches. The leaves are oblong, pointed, waved, 

 rough, viscous, and stand in pairs upon short 

 footstalks. The flowers are produced in succes- 

 sion at the extremities of the branches, in June 

 and July. They are large, of a purplish, red 

 colour, marked with dark spots at the base of 

 each petal, and stand on short peduncles. The 

 corolla is composed of five petals, large, round, 

 pink coloured, and very evanescent. The seeds 

 are contained in a round capsule. 



This shrub, which is a native of Candia, and 

 some of the islands of tlie Archipelago, was first 

 cultivated in England by Miller, in 1731, and is 

 now, along with several other species of the same 

 genus, very generally cultivated as an ornamental 

 garden shrub. 



Almost all the species abound with a glutinous 

 liquor, which exudes from the leaves in summer; 

 and from the cistus creticus, the substance known 

 under the name of labdanum, is collected. This 

 is done in Candia by an instrument called there 

 ergastiri, made in the form of a rake, to which 

 several leathern thongs are fixed instead of teeth, 

 and with which the leaves of the slirub are 

 lightly brushed backwards and forwards, so that 

 the fluid labdanum may adhere to the leather, 



from which it is afterwards scraped off with 

 knives, and formed into regular masses for expor- 

 tation. As this substance is observed to issue 

 most copiously during the hottest weather, the 

 method of collecting must be performed when 

 tlie intensity of the sun's heat renders it a very 

 laborious and troublesome employment. Three 

 sorts of labdanum have been described by authors, 

 but only two are now to be met with in the 

 shops. The best, which is very rare, is in dark 

 coloured masses, of the consistence of a soft 

 plaster, growing still softer on being handled; 

 the other is in long rolls, coiled up much harder 

 than the preceding, and not so dark. The first 

 has commonly a small, and the last a large 

 admixture of fine sand, which in the labdanum 

 examined by the French Academy, amounted to 

 three-fourths of the mass. It is scarcely, indeed, 

 to be collected pure, independently of designed 

 abuses, the dust blown on the plant by winds, 

 from the loose sands among which it grows, being 

 retained by the tenaceous juice. The soft kind 

 has an agi'eeable smell, and a highly pungent, 

 bitterish taste; the hard is much weaker. Rec- 

 tified spirit of wine dissolves nearly the whole 

 of pure labdanum into a golden coloured liquor. 

 On infusing labdanum in water, it impregnates 

 the fluid considerably with its smell and taste; 

 and in distillation with water, there comes over 

 a fragrant, essential oil. 



By the ancients, we are told that the lahdanon 

 was collected by combing the beards and thighs 

 of goats who browsed upon the cistus, and to 

 whose hair the drug was found to adhere; another 

 method of gathering it was by throwing cords 

 over those shrubs which produce it. This sub- 

 stance was foiTnerly much employed as a medi- 

 cine in coughs and affections of the chest; now, 

 however, its use is confined to the composition 

 of plasters, to be applied externally. 



Balsam of Gilead (amyris Gileadensisj. 

 Natural family terehintaceai ; octandria, mwio- 



fialiiam of Gilead. 



gynia, of Linna;us. This tree attains the height 

 of fourteen feet. Its brandies are numerous, 

 spreading, and crooked. The wood is white, 

 soft, and covered with a smooth, ash coloured 

 bark. The leaves are small, few, commonly 

 consisting of one pair of piuno;, with an odd one 



