46 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The rnyrrh that is found in Chinese collections of drugs at the present 

 day is always this perfumed bdellium (and never the bitter, aromatic, but 

 not fragrant myrrh which seems to have been used by the Egyptians for 

 embalming), and this may be taken as an indication that this perfumed 

 bdellium was the myrrh of Scripture. The "aloes " of Holy Writ is not 

 the purgative drug now known by that name, but a resinous wood derived 

 from various species of aquilaria (A Agallocha and A. Malaccensis &c), 



Fig. 11. — A Royal Garden in the Time of Thothmes III. 

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now known as lignum aloes, or lign aloes, the woods of which are still burnt 

 to produce a fragrant odour in apartments, in most Eastern countries, and 

 even as far west as Morocco. Concerning the spikenard there is the same 

 difficulty of identification, but the plant that is now generally believed to 

 yield it is a kind of valerian, which to modern olfactory organs would, 

 perhaps, not be so acceptable as it appears to have been to ancient 

 peoples ; nevertheless, if used in small quantity, it gives a peculiar but 

 not unpleasant character to many Indian perfumes. 



