OINTMENTS. 



question, attributes the invention of sweet-smelling oint- 

 ments to the Persians. It is said that there were no less 

 tlian i'orty oiTitment preparers in the retinue of Darius, 

 when it fell into the hands of Alexander. Pliny tells us 

 that among the booty taken at that time was the ointment 

 chest, adorned with gold, pearls and precious stones, in 

 which Alexander kept the \\'orks of fiomer, so that, as 

 he said, the most priceless work of the human mind might 

 repose in the most costly case, hi Greece the use 

 of sweet-scented ointments was considered effeminate: the 

 more mauh- athlete despised it and rubbed himsell in the 

 (.Tvmnasium with pure oil. 



Theophrastus, Pliny and Dioscorides relate how per- 

 fumed unguents were prepared in ancient times. The 

 "aromata" were mixed with the oils and heated together. 

 Thef)phrastus savs, in the third century B. C, tliat the 

 process had to be performed under water to pre\-ent the 

 "aromata" from burning. The oil most used was that 

 of the Olive, strainecl and artificiallv l^leached, and ex- 

 pressed from unripe fruits so as to be as colourless as 

 possible. Besides this the oil from sweet and bitter al- 

 monds. Sesame oil. Castor oil and Oil of Ben were used. 

 This last was particularly valued because it is scentless 

 and does not easily turn rancid. It would be used now- 

 a-days for hair oil were it not that it has practical!)- 

 disappeared from trade. T"he tree from which the Oil 

 of Ben was obtained was called in ancient times Balanos 

 or jVh'robalanon ("Ointment acorn"'). It is the Moriiii^a 

 aptera, a plant indigenous to Arabia and Egypt, whose 

 fruits, the Ben nuts, yield the oil by expression. 



