MYRRH A. 14.", 



Vaucrhan ^ states that the Somali Country and the neighbourhood of 

 Hurrur°(or Harar or Adari, 9° 20' N., 42" 17' E.) south west of Zeila 

 are the chief producing districts. It is generally brought to the 

 great fair of Berbera held in November, December, and January, 

 where it is purchased by the Banians of India, and shipped for 

 Bombay. 



It appears that all these informations rather refer to the Bisabol or 

 Habaghadi variety of mjTrh ; only the first notice, due to Hildebrandt, 

 applies to true myrrh. 



Myrrh trees abound on the hills about Shugra and Sureea in the 

 territory of the Fadhli or Fudthli tribe, lying to the eastward of Aden ; 

 mjTT-h is collected from them by Somalis who cross from the opposite 

 coast for the purpose and pay a tribute for the privilege to the Arabs, 

 who appear to be scarcely acquainted with this drug.^ But a sample 

 of it, received by one of us from Vaughan in 1852, and others we have 

 since seen in London (and easily, recognized), proved it to be somewhat 

 different from typical myrrh, and it is probably afibrded by another 

 species than Balsamodendron Myrrha. 



It would thus appear that there are three different trees affording 

 myrrh, namely that just alluded to, secondly the " Habaghadi," and 

 thirdly that growing east of Aden. 



Description — Myrrh consists of irregular roundish masses, varying 

 in size from small grains up to pieces as large as an egg, and occasion- 

 ally much larger. They are of an opaque reddish brown with dusty 

 dull surface. ^VTien broken, they exhibit a rough or waxy fracture, 

 having a moist and imctuous appearance, especially when pressed, and 

 a rich brown hue. The fractured, translucent siirface often displays 

 characteristic whitish marks which the ancients compared to the light 

 mark at the base of the finger-nails. Myrrh has a peculiar and agree- 

 able fragrance with an aromatic, bitter, and acrid taste. It cannot be 

 finely powdered until deprived by drying of some of its essential oil 

 and water ; nor when heated does it melt like colophony. 



Water disintegrates myrrh, forming a light brown emulsion, which 

 viewed under the microscope appears made up of colourless drops, 

 among which are granules of yellow resin. Alcohol dissolves the resin 

 of myrrh, leaving angular non-crystalline particles of gum ^ and frag- 

 ments of bark. 



Chemical Composition — Myrrh is a mixture, in very varjdng 

 proportions, of resin, mucilaginous matters, and essential oil. A fine 

 specimen of myrrh from the Somali coast, with which Captain Hunter, 

 in 1877, kindly presented one of us, yielded 27 per cent, of resin. The 

 undissolved portion is partly soluble in water. 



The resin dissolves completely in chloroform or alcohol, and the 

 colour of the latter solution is but slightly darkened by perchloride of 

 iron. It is but partially soluble in alkaUs or in bisulphide of carbon. 



^ Pharm. Journ. xii. (1853) 226. also Sprenger, AUe Geographic Arabienji, 



- Capt. S. B. Miles, in Joum. of R. Geo- 313. 

 graph. Soc. xli. (1871) 236. The country ^ pruggig^g ^ho prepare large quantities 



visited by Miles and Munzinger is the of Tincture of Myrrh may utilize this gum 



" Smymifera regio exterior," the outer for making a common sort of mucilage. — 



country producing myrrh of the ancients, Pharm. Journ. 10 June, 1871, 1001. 

 about 14* 10' N. lat. and 57° E. long. See 



