87 
Of this drug Flückiger ond Hanbury r iy 2nd ed., 
143), give sar following incipit s pe pem nsists of irregular 
oundish masses, varying in size que reddish brown 
with dusty dull surface. ‘When br oken, gs apa a rough or waxy 
fracture, having a moist or unctuous appearance, especially when pressed, 
and a rich arona hue. The fractured translucent surface often displays 
c whitish mar xe which the ancients compared to the light 
ark at us m of the finger nails. Myrrh has a a peculiar and agree- 
pons fragrance, san an aromatic, bitter and acrid taste." 
Somali myrrh is collected “on the range of hills which on the 
African shore runs partiel i6 o the Somali. coast” (Flick. and Hanb., 
Lc, p. 140). The ru of. the plant producing it has - carefully 
studied by Dr. Tri 
He makes the iclewien statement (Pharmaceutical Journal, 3rd 
ser., ix., p. 893) : Hildeb randt “collected in Marcl 1873 in the Ahl 
Mountains, which run parallel with the North Somali e " a plant which 
** was pointed out to him by the natives, who call it Didin.” He “ found 
myrrh exuded on the stem of the tree, of which the specimen gathered 
‘was a branch; it exudes spontaneously, without any external jajurys 
and is called Alad by the Somali, but Mur by the Arabs ; the form 
collect it i n great quantity, and it is brought to Aden and other fs 
ports, whence it is carried to India and Eur rope." 
This plant Hildebrandt referred ips ns doubt to Balsamodendron 
Myrrha, Nees (Sitz. Ges. Naturf. is v. 1878, p. 196). 
Dr. Trimen further says : “ A lar, > bend sent over in a living state 
to Kew by Mr. Wykeham Perry appears to be identical with Hilde- 
brandt's . . It was obtained in Somali-land near the parallel of 
47? E. long. Mr. Perry gives the Somali names as Didthin for the plant, 
and Mulmul for the product.” (Le.) An account of this specimen is 
given in Lad. Kew Report for 1878 (p. 40). 
r. Trimen had not merely the advantage of discussing the subjeet 
with Hildebrandt himself, but he examined and figured (Ben 
Trimen, Medicinal Plants, t. 50) the Somali plant collected by the 
latter. He further had the opportunity of comparing it gm tlie pini; 
mens collected by Ehrenberg on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea 
(opposite Massowa) on which , Balsamodendron Myrrha Ls founded. 
So far, then, nothing would seem more secure than the detequination 
of the source of Somali myrrh. ™ Flückiger and Mey (Lc. 141) 
conclude: * Balsamodendron Myrrha, Nees. . therefor be 
pointed out as the source of true myrrh of the etai commer 
Unfortunately the recent researches of the. Berlin botanisfs Jed 
thrown serious doubt on this. It seems clear that the plant collected 
r 
ree pa is not, as the Berlin botanists have supposed, B. Pla fori a 
Ba. 
phora) Shines which must therefore provisionally be. accepted a as 
the source of African Myrrh. yi 
ARABIAN ‘Myer P. 
ere appear to be at least two, and probably more, kinds of 
Arabian myrrh. 
i. According to Flückiger and Hanbury (Lc. p. 143), ** Myrrh trees 
AA on the hills . in the territory of the Fadhli tribe í 
lying to the eastward of Aden; myrrh is collected from them by Somalis 
*who cross from the opposite coast for the purpose, and pay a tribute for 
