AMYRIS ELEMIFERA. 
247 
and every day's produce gathered and poured into a larger vessel, and 
Lept closely corked. The lirst that flows is of a light yellow colour, 
apparently turbid, it afterwards becomes clear, fixed, and increases in 
weight, and the colour by degrees changes to a golden yellow. 
Sensible Qualities, &c. Baira of C.ilead, when recent, has a 
peculiar pungent odour, which is soon lost by exposure to the air. 
and by age; both its colour and consistence varies according to its 
age ; when kept for a considerable length of time, itjis of a golden 
yellow exteriorly, and paler inside, and of various degrees of con- 
sistence ; its taste is bitter, acrid, and astringent. When genuine it 
is said to dissolve easily in water; but in Europe it is never obtained 
pure, and as all the signs of its goodness are fallacious it has been 
very rarely employed. 
Medical Properties, &c. Balsam of Gilead has been so 
rarely employed in modern practice, that we can say very little of its 
remedial effects. The ancients we are told held it in very great 
esteem, and even now in Egypt it is considered a panacea for almost 
every complaint, and is prescribed, not only for wounds, ulcers, 
nervous and pulmonic disorders, but as an antidote to poisonous 
bites, and also against sterility in woman.* In Turkey it is chiefly 
used as an odoriferous unguent, and as a cosmetic by the ladies. 
The wood is also burnt as a perfume, in most parts of Arabia. 
Ofl". Balsam of Gilead. 
AMYRIS ELEMIFERA, 
Eltmi JYee. 
For Class, Order, Nat. Ord. and Gen. ChaR. 
see Amyris Gileadensis. 
Spec. Char. Leaves ternate, or pinnate, downy on the under 
side. 
This species of Amyris, which furnishes the resin called Elemi, is 
a native of Carolina and Spanish America, but its botanical charac- 
ter is not well known. We are told by Catesby, that it does not rise 
* Virey, Histoire des Medicamens, p. 290. 
