210 LEGUMINOS.E. 



Commerce — The balsam is shipped chiefly at Acajutla. It used 

 formei'ly to be packed in large earthenware jars, said to be Spanish 

 wine-jars, which, wrapped in straw, were sewed up in raw hide. These 

 packages have of late been superseded by metallic drums, which have 

 the advantage of being much less liable to breakage. We have no exact 

 statistics as to the quantity exported from Central America. In the 

 catalogue of San Salvador (quoted above, page 207, note 2) p. 39, the 

 value of the balsam exported in 1876 from that country is stated to 

 have been 78,189 dollars. The value of tobacco amounted to 69,717 

 dollars, that of coffee to 1 J millions of dollars, indigo to 2^ millions. 



Uses — Occasionally prescribed in the form of ointment as a stimu- 

 lating application to old sores, sometimes internally for the relief of 

 asthma and chronic cough. It is said to be also employed for scenting 

 soap. 



Adulteration — We have before us a sample of an adulterated 

 balsam, which, we are told, is largely prepared at Bremen. It is less 

 aromatic, less rich in acids, and contains usually much less than 88 per 

 cent, of resin separable, as above stated, by means of bisulphide of carbon. 

 At first sight however the adulterated drug is not so easily recognized. 



Other sorts of Balsam of Peru. 



The value anciently set upon balsam for religious and medicinal 

 uses, led to its being extracted from the pods and also from trees no 

 longer employed for the purpose ; and many of the products so obtained 

 have attracted the attention of pharmacologists.^ Parkinson writing 

 in 1640 observes that — "there have been divers other sorts of liquours, 

 called Balsamiim for their excellent vertues, brought out of the West 

 Indies, every one of which for a time after their first bringing was of 

 great account with all men and bought at great prices, but as greater 

 store was brought, so did the prices diminish and the use decay , . ." 



In Salvador, the name Balsamo bianco (White Balsam) is applied to 

 the soft resin contained in the large ducts of the legume of Myroxylon 

 PereircB. This, when pressed out, forms a golden yellow, semi-fluid, 

 granular, crystalline mass, hardening by age, having a rather unpleasant 

 odour suggestive of melilot. Stenhouse (1850) obtained from it the 

 neutral resin Myroxoearjnn, C^^H^O^ in thin colourless prisms, an inch 

 or more in length. We have succeeded in extracting it directly from 

 the pods. This White Balsam, which is distinctly mentioned in the 

 letter of Palacio in 1576 (see p. 206), is a scarce and valuable article, 

 never prepared for the market. A large jar of it was sent to Pereira in 

 1850 ;'^ Guzman^ and Wyss state that it is known in the country as 

 " Balsamito," or " Balsamo catolico or Virgin Balsam," 



A fragrant balsamic resin is collected, though in but very small 

 quantity, from Myroxylon peruiferum Linn, f , a noble tree of New 

 Granada, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. A fine sample of this 

 substance, accompanied by herbarium and other specimens, was pre- 

 sented to one of us (H.) by Mr. J. Correa de MeUo of Campinas (Brazil) ; 



^ Guibourt, Uist. des Drog. iii, (1850) ^ In the Catalogue alluded to, page 207, 



440, note 2. 



2 PJiami. Journ. x. (1851) 286. 



