GUM BENZOIN. 



301 



ported from Hamburg and from the Italian ports. The 

 foreign article usually has the rind pared off. Calamus 

 root, or Calamus aromaticus as it is usually called, is in flat- 

 tened pieces, about three-quarters of an inch broad and five 

 or six inches in length, of a yellowish-brown colour ; this 

 rhizome is also marked with scars from which the leaves 

 have been removed, and by spots, below where the roots 

 existed. Its essential oil is used in perfuming snuffs. The 

 root is much used in the adulteration of ale, by the brew^ers 

 and publicans ; it is also used by perfumers. 



Gum Benzoin or Benjamin. (Plate XYIII. fig. 92.) — 

 A gum -resin used chiefly in perfumery. It is produced by 

 the Benjamin-tree, Sty rax Benzoin (Nat. Ord. Sti/racece), 

 a very large tree, indigenous to Sumatra, Borneo, Siam, 

 and Java. 



The gum exudes from incisions purposely made in the 

 stems, and is of different qualities according to the age of 

 the trees. We receive it either in masses or tears : the masses 

 are fragments of the solid block into which the Benzoin is 

 run in the chests, and is a mixture of red and white patches, 

 having a resemblance to coarse red granite ; the tears are 

 usually nearly w hite, and of a very flne quality. It forms 

 an ingredient in the incense used for burning, and in some 



