ADDITIONAL NOTE ON BALSAM OF PERU. 
315 
a half.* In the summer season push the evaporation somewhat further, and add 
eight ounces of brandy. The dose of the above extract is a teaspoonful twice 
or three times a day. 
ADDITIONAL NOTE ON THE MANUFACTURE OF BALSAM OF 
PERU. 
BY DANIEL IIANBURY, F.L.S. 
In my paper on Balsam of Peru published in the last number of the Pharma¬ 
ceutical Journal, I endeavoured to show 
1. That that drug has been always a production of Guatemala, or rather 
of that part of it which is now called Salvador. 
2. That the tree which yields it is the Myroxylon Pereiras of Klotzsch. 
3. That it acquired the name of Balsam of Peng solely from the circum¬ 
stance of it being transported to Europe by way of Peru. 
Since communicating to the Society that paper, I have referred to several 
of the early writers on Central America, in the hope of finding further confirma¬ 
tion of the opinions above expressed. In this I have not been wholly unsuc¬ 
cessful, as the following brief extracts will show. 
Father Joseph cle Acosta in his Historia Natural y JSIoral de las Lidias pub¬ 
lished at Seville in 1590, says: 
41 ... . That which is more important, is that for making the Chrism 
which is so necessary in the Holy Church and so greatly venerated, the 
Apostolic See has declared that with this Indian balsam, chrism is to be 
made in the Indies, and with it that of the Sacrament of Confirmation and 
those moreover used in other ceremonies of the Church. 
“ Balsam is brought to Spain from New Spain ; and it is in the provinces 
of Guatemala and Chiajias and others in those parts that it most abounds, 
although the most precious is that which comes from the island of Tolu in 
Terra Firma, not far from Carthagena.”f 
Herrera, who wrote a History of the West Indies published at Madrid in 1601, 
states in describing Guatemala, that 
“there are found in this province many fountains and springs of hot water 
having different properties, virtues and colours : there is fine balsam in 
abundance, which the Spaniards knew without learning it from the Indians, 
notwithstanding what a certain author has written. Moreover there is 
liquidambar, copal and suchicopal and other kinds of gums and juices, very 
perfect. . . . The harbour of Acaxutla near Trinity [Sonsonate] at 13° 
degrees of latitude, is the principal port of the province for going to New 
.Spain and Feru.”J 
* c American Journal of Pharmacy/ vol. xxvii., 1855, p. 229 ; and Parrish’s ‘ Practical Phar¬ 
macy/ second edition, 1859, p. 205. 
f . Lo que mas importa es, que para la substancia de hazer Chrisma, que tan necessario 
es en la sancta Iglesia, y de tanta veneracion, ha declarado la Sede Apostolica, que con este 
Balsamo de Indias se liaga Chrisma en Indias, y con el se de el Sacramento de Confinnacion, 
y los de mas, donde la Iglesia lo usa. Traese a Espana el Balsamo de la nueva Espaba, y la 
provincia de Guatimala, y de Chiapa, y otras por alii es donde mas abunda, aunque el mas pre- 
ciado es, el que viene de la Isla de Tolu, que es en Tierrafirme no lexos de Cartagena.”—lib. iv. 
c. 28. 
X “ Oil trouve en ceste province plusieurs fontaines et sources d’eaux chaudes ayant diverses 
proprietes, vertus, et couleurs: il y a du bausme, beau et beaucoup, que les Espagnols cognu- 
rent sans Tapprendre des Indiens, contre ce qu’un auteur en escrit. Plus il y a de l’ambre li- 
quide, la gomme anime, copal et suchicopal, et autres sortes des gommes et liqueurs tres-par- 
faits.Le havre Acaxutla pres de la Trinite a 13 degres de liaulteur, est 
le principal port de la province, pour aller en Neuf Espagne, et en Peru.” Description des 
hides Occidental es, traduit de V Espaynol, Amst. 1622, cap. xii. I have also consulted the 
Spanish edition published at Madrid, 1601-15. 
