MYRRH 481 



the margins possessing a powdery appearance ; it has a bitter taste 

 and an odour recalling pepper. The tincture gives no precipitate 

 with ferric chloride. 



Indian bdellium, which occurs in large irregular masses of a dark 

 reddish brown colour. The fractured surface resists the nail, and is 

 covered with characteristic, minute, shiny points of resin which also 

 appear on the outer surface. The odour is feeble and cedar-like ; it 

 appears to be developed only on keeping. The taste is slightly acrid 

 and devoid of bitterness. 



Gum hotai, liver-coloured, opaque masses, is sent in large quantities 

 to Bombay ; used for washing the hair. It contains an acid resin 

 and a saponin. 



OLIBANUM 

 (Frankincense, Olibanum) 



Source, &c. Olibanum or, as it is sometimes termed, frankincense 

 (to be carefully distinguished from American frankincense) is a gum- 

 resin obtained from Boswellia Carterii, Birdwood, and other species of 

 Boswellia (N.O. Burseracece). 



These plants are small trees that grow in southern Arabia and in 

 Somaliland. Like the trees that yield myrrh they contain schizogenous 

 ducts in the bark, in which an oleo-resin is secreted. The Somalis 

 incise the bark and collect the gum-resin as soon as it has sufficiently 

 dried. The drug is conveyed to Aden and thence to Bombay, whence 

 it is exported to Europe. 



Description. Olibanum occurs in small tears varying from 0*5 to 

 3 cm. in length and usually ovoid, pear-shaped, or club-shaped, but 

 sometimes stalactitic in form, occasionally agglutinated into small 

 masses. They are usually of a pale yellowish colour, frequently with 

 a greenish, bluish, or reddish tinge, semi-translucent and covered with 

 a dull white dust, the surface of the tear being dull even after the 

 dust has been removed. They are brittle, breaking easily between the 

 fingers ; internally they are opalescent and translucent, the fractured 

 surface being dull and waxy. 



The drug has a fragrant, balsamic odour and an aromatic, slightly 

 bitter taste, and soften to a plastic mass when chewed. Triturated 

 with water it yields a whitish emulsion. 



The student should observe 



(a) The fragrant odour, 



(6) The opalescent, waxy interior of the tears. 



Constituents. Olibanum consists principally of resin (60 to 70 

 per cent.), gum (27 to 35 per cent.), and volatile oil (5 to 7 per 

 cent.). 



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