BALSAMUM DIPTEROCARPI. 89 



The medicinal properties of Guijun balsam were pointed out by 

 O'Shaughnessy^ as entirely analogous to those of copaiba; and his 

 observations were confirmed by many practitiouei-s in India. This has 

 obtained for the drug a place in the Pharmacojxsia of India (1868). 



Extraction — A recent account of the production of this drug is 

 found in the Reports of the Jury of the Madras Exhibition of 1855. 

 It is there stated that Wood Oil, as the balsam is commonly called, is 

 obtained for the most part from the coast of Burma and the Straits, and 

 is procured by tapping the trees about the end of the dry season. 

 Several deep incisions are made with an axe into the trunk of the tree and 

 a good-sized cavity scooped out. In this, fire is placed, and kept burn- 

 ing until the wood is somewhat scorched, when the balsam begins to 

 exude, and is then led away into a vessel of bamboo. It is afterwards 

 allowed to settle, when a clear liquid separates from a thick portion 

 called the " guad." The oil is extracted year after year, and sometimes 

 there are two or three holes in the same tree. It is produced in extra- 

 ordinary abundance; from 30 to 40 gallons according to Roxburgh may 

 sometimes be obtained from a single tree in the course of a season, 

 during which it is necessarj' to remove from time to time the old 

 charred surface of the wood and burn afresh. 



If a growing tree is felled and cut into piece, the oleo-resin exudes 

 and concretes on the wood, very much, it is said, resernbling camphor (?) 

 and havinor an aromatic smell. 



Description — As Gurjun balsam is the produce of difierent trees as 

 well as of different countries, it is not surprising to find that it varies 

 considerably in its properties. 



The following observations refer to a balsam of which 400 lb. were 

 lecently imported from Moulmein for a Loudon drug firm. It is a 

 thick and viscid fluid, exhibiting a remarkable fluorescence, so that 

 when seen by reflected light it appears opat^ue and of dingy greenish 

 grey; y^et when placed between the observer and strong daylight 

 it is seen to be perfectly transparent and of a dark-reddish brown.' 

 It has a weak aromatic copaiba-like odour and a bitterish aromatic taste 

 without the persistent acridity of copaiba. Its sp. gr. at 16*9° C. is 

 0-964. 



With the following liquids Gurjun aflfords perfectly clear solutions 

 which are more or less fluorescent, namely pure benzol (from benzoate 

 of calcium), cumol, chloroform, sulphide of carbon, essential oils. On 

 the other hand, it is not entirely soluble in methylic, ethylic, or amylic 

 alcohol ; in ether, acetic ether, glacial acetic acid, acetone, phenol 

 (carbolic acid), or in caustic potash dissolved in absolute alcohol. 

 Many samples of commercial benzin also are not capable of dissolving 

 the oleo-resin perfectly, but we have not ascertained on what con- 

 stituent of such benzin this depends. We have further noticed that 

 that portion of petroleum which is known as Petroleum Ether, contain- 

 ing the most volatile hydrocarbons, does not wholly dissolve the oleo- 

 resin. One hundred parts of the balsam warmed and shaken with 1000 



Colonies /ran^aises. Exposition [fniverselle ^ Mat. Med. of Hindoostan, Madras, 



de 1878, p. 175, it is stated that the 1813. 186. 



balsam of D. alatus in French Cochin * Bengal Dispensatory, 1842. 2*2. 

 China is preferred, being a " huile b'anche." 



