ON THE MANUFACTURE OF BALSAM OF PERU. 247 
is Acajutla, four leagues from the capital, and that it is frequented by vessels 
from New Spain, Terra Firma and Peru. 
Juarros in his History of Guatemala , describing the province of S. Salvador, 
remarks that its natural productions are in general, similar to those of the other 
provinces on the southern coast, but that the balsam-tree is found exclusively 
in that province, upon what is called the Balsam Coast , which extends from the 
port of Acajutla to the Bay of Jiquilisco.*' 
Baily, a recent author, whose work entitled Central America appeared in 
1850, remarks that the Balsam was long erroneously supposed to be a production 
of South America, for in the early period of Spanish dominion it was usually 
shipped to Callao, in Peru, whence it was sent to Europe, where it received the 
name of Balsam of Peru, being deemed indigenous to that country. 
The old method of preparing the balsam does not appear to have been that 
resorted to at the preseut day, for Dr. Dorat has stated that the Spaniards 
were in the habit of obtaining it by cutting down the trees and boiling the 
wood,—a wasteful and destructive practice which was afterwards prohibited. 
"Whether the process now followed, was also in vogue, or how and when it was 
introduced, is not evident; the extraction of the balsam by boiling chips of the 
trunk and branches is however described by most writers on Materia Medica. 
Monardes, whose account is the earliest, asserts that the balsam extracted in 
this manner is collected with shells from the surface of the water, a statement 
difficult to believe, as the balsam of modern times has a sp. gr. of IT 50 to IT GO. 
But I find that even this is capable of some explanation; for upon saturating 
some cotton cloth in Balsam of Peru and then boiling it in water, I was able 
with a spoon to collect floating on the surface , nearly the whole of the balsam 
taken. Monardes says however that the balsam was thus removed after the cool¬ 
ing of the mater , an assertion which seems improbable, since most of the balsam, 
if heavier than water, sinks upon cooling. 
How far the balsam obtained by boiling the wood agreed in properties with 
that procured after charring the bark as is done at present, it is not easy to say. 
It was certainly a dark fragrant liquid, which when as thick as pitch was some¬ 
times enclosed in little calabashes,! such I presume, as may still be found in a 
few old collections of Materia Medica. Some of this which I have examined, is 
a soft solid resin, sinking rapidly in water, but rising to the surface when the 
water is made to boil. What the white balsam mentioned by De la Martiniere 
was derived from, I know not: possibly it was the resin of Liquidambar which 
is still a product of the country,—possibly (though I do not think it likely) the 
resin from the pods of the balsam-tree. 
Another point of considerable interest brought to light by Dr. Dorat’s com¬ 
munication is that the resin (or more properly, as it proves, gum-resin) natu¬ 
rally exuded from the balsam-tree is entirely devoid of balsamic odour and taste. 
As my friend Dr. Attfield has kindly undertaken a few experiments upon this 
substance, I shall not here enter into further particulars respecting it, except to 
remark that its total dissimilarity from Balsam of Tolu disproves the statement 
of those writers who have maintained that that drug is the concrete balsam of 
the tree which yields Balsam of Peru. 
Professor Bentley said that the paper just read-was oue of much interest, 
for although the source of our present commercial Balsam of Peru and the mode 
in which it was produced, bad been ably investigated of recent years by the late 
Dr. Pereira, in this country, and by Dr. Dorat, in the district from whence it was 
obtained, there were still doubts in the minds of some, as to whether it might not 
* Having' been unable to consult the original work, I have quoted Daily's translation, 
London, 1823. f De la Martiniere, 1. c. 
