32 BICTIONAKY OF POPULAR NAMES BALSAM 



America. Its leaves are silvery- white on the under side ; the 

 cones yield a turpentine called Canada Balsam, which is used 

 for mounting and preserving microscopic objects. 



Balsam. — This word first appears in Josephus's History of 

 the Jews, In speaking of presents brought by the Queen of 

 Sheba to Solomon he says — '' They say also that we possess the 

 root of that balsam which our country still bears by this 

 woman's gift." Since then the word Balsam has been given to 

 gummy and oleo-resinous substances, the produce of different 

 kinds of trees ; in most cases it is highly odoriferous, and is 

 used in perfumery, medicine, and the arts. 



Balsam Bog (Azorella [Bolax] glebaria), a remarkable plant 

 of the Carrot family (Umbelliferffi), native of the Falkland 

 Islands. It is a shrub, consisting of small, short, woody branches, 

 giving the plant the form of a ball, increasing its diameter by 

 the repeated forking of the branches, varying in size according 

 to age, some tufts of old plants measuring 3 to 4 feet across, and 

 the same in height, hard and firm, attached to the ground by a 

 tap-root; it has numerous heath-like leaves and small flowers. A 

 gum-resin exudes from its branches, which is said to be used as 

 medicine. There is a specimen of the plant in the Kew Museuii^ 

 9 feet in diameter. 



Balsam, Canada. {See Balm of Gilead Fir.) 



Balsam Oopaiva. — Go^aifera Lansdorffii^ officinalis^ Maoiii, 

 guianensis, and other species, hard -wooded, wing -leaved trees 

 of the Bean family (Leguminosse), found in the forests of 

 Northern Brazil, Guiana, Venezuela, and New Grenada. In some 

 of these localities the trees attain the height of 80 feet, having 

 a clear stem of 50 feet, the circumference at three feet above the 

 ground being 5 or 7 feet. The liquid Balsam collects in veins 

 and fissures in the interior of the tree, in some cases in such 

 quantity as to swell the wood and bark, causing them to burst 

 with a report ; but very little fluid seems to exude from these 

 cracks. To obtain the Balsam, the copaiba collector cuts a hole 

 in the tree a foot square about two feet above tlie ground, deeply 

 into the wood; on the axe striking a reservoir or fissure, the 



