59 BALSAMODENDRUM OPOBALSAMUM 



a powerful odour of myrrh, and having a specific gravity, ac- 

 cording to Fliickiger and Hanbury, of 0*988, but Gladstone 

 found it to be heavier than water. The amount of oil obtainable 

 has been variously estimated at from f to over 3 per cent. The 

 resin is readily soluble in alcohol or chloroform, but only partially 

 soluble in alkalies or bisulphide of carbon ; its amount probably 

 averages about 25 per cent, but it has been found by different 

 chemists to vary from 23 to 44 per cent. When first moistened 

 by alcohol, and then by hydrochloric acid, the resin assumes a 

 violet hue. 



ADULTERATIONS AND OTHER KINDS or MYRRH. The inferior 

 qualities of myrrh are often adulterated with various gums, resins, 

 &c. These may be usually distinguished by the transparency of 

 their fractured surface, and by their deficiencies of odour and taste ; 

 they are fully described in special treatises on the Materia Medica, 

 and need no further mention from us. But besides the true 

 myrrh, as hitherto described, there are two other varieties of 

 myrrh, which we must briefly refer to. These are commonly 

 distinguished under the names of Arabian Myrrh and East Indian 

 Myrrh. Both varieties are frequently sold by dealers as true myrrh. 



1. Arabian Myrrh. This is collected to the eastward of Aden, in 

 Southern Arabia, and is probably the produce of a species of 

 Balsamodendrum closely allied to that from which the true or 

 African Myrrh is derived. It is forwarded from Makulla and Aden 

 to Bombay, where its trade name is meetiga ; it is mostly sold in 

 India as true myrrh. It occurs in irregular gummy-looking 

 masses, the largest which are formed by the agglutination of 

 small, shiny, translucent tears, rarely exceeding 1J inches in 

 length. It is more brittle than true myrrh, and when broken, 

 although its fractured surface much resembles that drug, the 

 whitish opaque markings so characteristic of it are absent. 

 Arabian myrrh is also more gummy than African myrrh, but it 

 possesses a similar taste and odour. 



2. East Indian Myrrh, the Bissa Bol of the Arabs. This 

 is collected like true myrrh in the Somali country, and is also 

 doubtless the produce of a species of Balsamodendrum , allied to 



