Notwithstanding the positive authority of Josephus, referred to above, and the great probability that 
attends it, it is observed by Bruce that his account cannot be put into competition with that of the Scriptures, 
which 1730 years before Christ, and 1000 before the Queen of Sheba, says, “ A company of Ishmaelites 
came from Gilead with their camels, bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh, going to carry it down into 
Egypt;” (Gen. xxxvii. 25;) from which it is evident that it had been transplanted into Judea, flourished 
there, and had become an article of commerce in Gilead long before the period he mentions. Now the 
spicery or possession was entirely purchased by the Ishmaelites at the mouth of the Red Sea, the market 
for Indian goods ; and at the same place they must have brought the myrrh, which does not, nor did grow 
anywhere else than in Sabo or Azabo, east of Cape Gardefan, where the ports of India were, from whence 
it was dispersed all over the world. 
Josephus, speaking of the vale of Jericho, says, “Now here is the most fruitful country in Judea, 
which bears a vast number of palm-trees, besides the balsam-tree , whose sprouts they cut with sharp stones, 
and at the incisions they gather the juice, which drops down like tears.” The balsam produced by these 
trees was of such consequence as to be noticed by all the writers who treated of Judea. Pliny says, “This 
tree, which was peculiar to Juris, or the Yale of Jericho, was more like a vine than a myrtle.” Vespasian 
and Titus carried, each of them, one to Rome, as rarities; and Pompey boasted of bearing them in triumph. 
When Alexander the Great was in Judea, a spoonful of the balsam was all that could be collected on a 
summer’s day , and in the most plentiful year, the great royal park for these trees yielded only six gallons, 
and the smaller one only one gallon. It was consequently so dear, that it sold for double its weight in 
silver. But from the great demand for it, adulteration soon followed, and a spurious sort was substituted. 
Justin makes this tree the source of all the national wealth. Speaking of the balsam, he says, “ The wealth 
of the Jewish nation arose from the opobalsamum, which doth only grow in those countries ; for it is a 
valley like a garden, which is surrounded by hills, and inclosed, as it were, with a wall. It is called Jericho. 
In the valley is a wood, admirable for its fruitfulness, as for its delightfulness, being intermingled with 
palms and opobalsamum trees. The latter have a resemblance to firs, but are lower, and are planted and 
husbanded like the vine ; and on a set season of the year sweat balsam.” In the estimate of the revenues 
which Cleopatra derived from the regions round about Jericho, which had been given her by Antony, and 
which Herod afterwards farmed of her, it is said, “ this country bears that balsam which is the most pre- 
cious drug that is there and grows there only.” The balsam is mentioned in the Scriptures, under the 
name of “ Balm of Gilead.” (Jer. viii. 22 ; xlvi. 11 ; li. 8.) 
Qualities and Chemical Properties. — Balsam of Gilead, or of Mecca, says Mr. Milburn, is a 
resinous juice that distils from a tree, or shrub, growing between Mecca and Medina. The tree is scarce ; 
the best sort is said to exude naturally, but the inferior kinds are extracted by boiling the branches. It is 
at first turbid and white, of a strong pungent, agreeable aromatic smell, and slightly bitter acrid taste ; 
upon being kept, it becomes thin, limpid, of a greenish hue, then of a golden yellow colour, and, at lengthy 
like honey. The opobalsamum of the ancients, was the green liquor found in the kernel of the fruit ; the 
carpobalsamum, the most in esteem, was expressed from the ripe fruit, and xylobalsamum from the small 
twigs after decoction. It is extremely liable to adulteration, and from its high price and scarcity, we 
believe that a single ounce of the genuine Balsam of Gilead is not to be obtained in this country, 
or even in Europe. To spread when dropped into water, all over the surface, to form a thin 
iridescent pellicle, so tenacious that it may be taken up entire with the point of a needle, were formerly 
infallible criteria of the genuine article. It has, however, been observed, that other balsams, when of a 
certain degree of consistence, exhibit these phenomena equally with the Balsam of Gilead. Mr. Bruce 
says, “ if the balsam be dropped on a woollen cloth, in a pure state, it may be washed out completely and 
readily with simple water. Dried Canada balsam, or the resinous juice which exudes from the Pinus bal- 
samea, is at the present day generally substituted for the real, and if it does not possess its odour, it is 
equally efficacious.” 
Medical Properties and Uses. — This balsam is highly prized among Eastern nations, particu- 
larly by the Turks and Arabs, both as a medicine and odoriferous unguent and cosmetic. It has been highly 
extolled as a powerful antiseptic, vulnerary, and preventive of the plague. In its medicinal properties it 
agrees with the balsams of Tolu, Peru, and others of the same class ; but its great scarcity has prevented it 
from coming into use among European practitioners. 
In the Language of Flowers, Balm of Gilead denotes Healing. 
