the temple. Then, having said a prayer or two, on a signal given, he set fire to the incense, the whole mul- 
titude continuing all the time in prayer. The quantity of incense offered each day was half a pound in the 
morning, and as much at night. One reason of this continued burning of incense might be, that the multi- 
tude of victims that were continually offered up, would have made the temple smell like a slaughter house, 
and consequently have inspired the comers rather with disgust and aversion, than awe and reverence, had it 
not been overpowered by the agreeable fragrance of those perfumes. 
In the early ages, it was much used as incense in sacrifices ; and in modern times, the Greek and Ro- 
mish churches still retain the use of frankincense in some of their ceremonies, where the diffusion of such 
vapours round the altar forms a part of the prescribed religious service. 
The source of the Olibanum, the especial incense of the ancients, has long been a matter of doubt. 
Supplies of this resin were formerly drawn only from Africa, and it is said by some to have been called Gum 
Thuris on account of its being brought bv the merchants from Thur or Thor, a port in the North Bay of the Red 
Sea, near Mount Sinai, and in order to distinguish it in commerce from gum arabic, which was chiefly ex- 
ported from Suez. Linnaeus supposed the Olibanum of Africa to be procured from a species of Juniper (J. 
Lycia,) but of this no satisfactory evidence has been adduced ; and the assumption is now generally denied. 
It is more than probable, that Olibanum, or balms which so closely resemble it that they pass current in 
commerce, may, like gum-arabic, be afforded by several different plants : and of this there seems to be 
evidence offered by Messrs. Turnbull and Colebrooke, who have shown that a gum collected in the moun- 
tainous regions of central India, and sent to this country without a name, but which the London Drug 
Merchants recognised as Olibanum and which now forms the greater part of the Olibanum used in Europe, 
it is an exudation from a tree called, in India Sail, the Boswellia Serrata of botanists. 
Qualities. — Olibanum is in the form of semi-transparent masses or tears, of a pale yellowish, or pink 
colour, solid, hard, and brittle. It has a bitterish acrid taste, and when chewed, sticks to the teeth, and 
renders the saliva milky. When heated, it burns brilliantly, and diffuses an agreeable odour. Alcohol dis- 
solves three-fourths of it, and water about three eighths. On distillation alone, it affords a yellowish, fra- 
grant, essential oil. From the analysis of Braconnot, it appears, that in 100 parts Olibanum are composed 
of 8 essential oil, 56 of resin, 30 of gum, and 5 # 2 of a matter resembling gum, but insoluble in water and 
alcohol. 1 
Medical Properties and Uses. — The virtues of Olibanum are merely those of a stimulant and 
diaphoretic. It was formerly much used as a remedy in various diseases of the head and chest, in vomitings, 
diarrhoea and dysentery ; and externally, as a vulnerary. Riverius recommends it in pleurisies ; and Geof- 
froy professes to have experienced its success in those diseases, especially after venesection. The dose was 
from 9j to 3j. At the present day it is seldom employed, except as a perfume in the rooms of the sick, and 
is scarcely entitled to a place in the materia medica. 
a Ann . de Chim . lxviii. 60. 
