454 
M Y R M Y R 
myrrh, it has always a very ftrong, rancid, oily fmell; 
and, when thrown into water, globules of an oily matter 
fwim upon the furface. This greafinefs is not from the 
myrrh; it is owing to the favages tifing goats’-lkins 
anointed with butter, to make them fupple, in which to 
put their myrrh at gathering; and in thele lkins it re¬ 
mains, and is brought to market: fo that, far from its bring 
a fault, as fome ignorant druggifts at Rome and Venice 
believe, it is a mark that the myrrh is freffi gathered, 
which is the bell quality that myrrh of the firft fort can 
have. Befides, far from injuring the myrrh, this oily 
covering muft rather at firft have been of fervice; as it 
certainly imprifons and confines the volatile parts of new 
myrrh, which el'cape in great quantities, to a very con- 
fiderable diminution in the weight. Bruce in Phil. Tran f, 
for 1775. 
The druggifts have been accuftomed to fell two kinds 
of myrrh; viz. myrrh in tears, which they call Jlade; the 
other ungulata, or in nails. Of the firft kind, the beft is 
bright, yellow, and in tranfparent drops, friable, light, 
of a ftrong difagreeable fmell : but this is very rare, and 
raoft of that in ufe is the ungulated myrrh, fo called from 
little white fpots obferved thereon, much like thofe on 
the nails of the fingers. The beft is in little maffes, or 
tears, reddifh and tranfparent: the fineft pieces of myrrh, 
when broken, are l'ometimes found to contain a kind of 
unftuous liquor—the 1110ft precious part of the myrrh, 
and the real Jtafti of the ancients. 
Myrrh has fomewhat of a fragrant odour, and bitter 
aromatic tafte. Thofe fpecies of an irregular fhape, called 
tears, are tranflucent, of a reddifh-yellow colour, brittle, 
breaking with a refinous frabture, and eafily pulverized. 
It does not melt when bruifed, and is not very inflam¬ 
mable. Its fpecific gravity is i - 36o. Such are the cha- 
rafteriftic properties of good myrrh : but it is often adul¬ 
terated, and then is often opaque, and either white, 
or of a dark colour approaching to black, with a difagree¬ 
able odour. Myrrh is partially loluble in water, alcohol, 
and ether. In boiling water it almoft totally difl'olves ; 
but, as the liquor cools, a portion of refinous matter fub- 
ftdes. By evaporating the aqueous infufion, an extra# 
is obtained ; and by diftillation, with a boiling heat, the 
whole of its flavour arifes, partly impregnating the diftilled 
water, and partly colle#ed and concentrated in the form 
of an eflential oil; which is in fmell extremely fragrant, 
in tafte remarkably mild, and fo ponderous as to fink in 
the aqueous fluid ; whereas the oils of raoft, perhaps of all, 
of the other gummy refins fwim. Triturated with foft 
or diftilled water, almoft the whole will be diffolved, and 
form an opaque yellowifh folution: the greateft part, 
however, will be depofited by reft, and more than one- 
third of the gum-refin will be diffolved. The alcoholic 
tin#ure is rendered milky and opaque, when mixed with 
water, but no precipitate appears. 
If fome powdered myrrh be inclofed in the white of a 
hard-boiled egg, and let in a moift cellar, the liquor, into 
w-hich the egg will be gradually relolved, will extra# 
nearly all the fmell and tafte of the myrrh. This liquor, 
which is commonly called oil of myrrh, per deliquium, 
may be precipitated and coagulated by fpirit of wine : 
and this coagulum is loluble by water. Re#ified fpirit 
difl'olves lei's of this concrete than water, but extrafts 
more perfectly that part in which its bitternefs, flavour, 
and virtues, refide. 
This bitter, aromatic, gummy, refin, enters a great 
number of medicinal compofitions. It is a warm corro¬ 
borant, deobftruent, and antifeptic : it is given from a few 
grains to a fcruple and upwards, in uterine obllru#ions, 
cachexies, putrid fevers, &c. and often employed alfo as 
an external antifeptic and vulnerary. It has been fuc- 
cefs fully employed in phthifical cafes as a peftoral, when 
the inflammatory fymptoms and he#ic fever do not run 
high : and, though allied to fome of the balfams, it is 
found to be more efficacious and lefs irritating to the 
f \ Item. As a tonic, in cafes of debility, as amenorrhcca, 
chlorofis, and convalefcencies, myrrh is advautageoufly 
combined with aloes, cinchona, or other bitters and 
chalybeates; and, in phthifis, with nitre, digitalis, opium, 
camphor, and the fulphat of iron or zinc. Combined 
with oxyd of zinc, it has been found extremely uf’eful in 
the peculiar cough which fometimes accompanies preg¬ 
nancy, when it continues after abortion. As an expec¬ 
torant, myrrh is often employed in humoral afthma and 
chronic catarrh, and it has been given with the fame view 
in phthifical affeftions. As a local ftinvulant, the alcoholic 
folution of myrrh diffufed in water is ufed as a lotion in 
a fpongy ftate of the gums, and for corre#ing the foetid 
difcharge of vitiated ulcers, efpecially when connected 
with caries of the bone; and as a gargle in cynanche 
maligna. Its bitternefs renders it good for the ftomach, 
and againft worms; and it is chewed to prevent infe#ion 
from contagious difeales. Dr. Quincy fays, it is excellent 
tocleanfe and ftrengthen the womb, and againft tickling 
rheums ; a good detergent; and, as fuch, much ufed ex¬ 
ternally in unguents for the healingof wounds. It makes 
the principal ingredient in embalming. 
It is an apophthegm of chemifts, derived from Van 
Helmont, that whoever can make myrrh foluble by the 
human body, has the fecret of prolonging his days ; and 
Boerhaave owns there feems to be truth in this, from its 
refilling putrefaction. He himfelf, and other chemifts 
before him, have given methods for making folutions of 
myrrh, but only by means of alcohol. It feems not a 
little furprifing that fuch great chemifts fliould never 
have found out that myrrh is foluble in common water. 
It is affirmed by fome, that the myrrh we have at pre- 
fent is not equal in quality to that of the ancients, and 
has not that exquifite fmell which all authors afcribe to 
the latter. They aromatized their mod delicious wines 
with it; and it was prefented as a very valuable perfume 
to our Lord while he lay in the manger. It was this 
gum alfo which was mingled with the wine given him to 
drink at his paffion, to deaden his pains, and to produce 
a ftupor. (See Mark xv. 13.) The gall mentioned on 
the fame occafion by St. Matthew is probably the fame 
with myrrh ; for any thing bitter was ufually diftinguilhed 
by the name of gall. (See Matth. xxvii. 34.) The Hebrews 
were accuftomed to give thofe that were executed fome 
ftupefying draught. The difficulty which arifes from the 
feeming difference betwixt the two evangeiifts, by fome 
is folved by faying, that St. Matthew, writing in Syriac, 
made ufe of the word marra, which fignifies “ myrrh, 
bitternefs, or gall 5” but the Greek tranflator has taken 
it for gall, and St. Mark for myrrh. Others think that 
our Saviour’s drink was mingled with myrrh as a ftupe¬ 
fying drug; but fuppofe that the foldiers, out of wanton 
cruetty and inhumanity, infufed gall; which was the 
realon, fay they, why, when he hud tajled thereof \ he would 
not drink. 
MYR'RHA, in fabulous hiftory, a daughter of Cinyras 
king of Cyprus. She became enamoured of her father, 
and introduced herfelf into his bed unknown. She had 
a fon by him, called Adonis. When Cinyras was ap- 
prifed of the inceft he had committed, he attempted to 
llab his daughter; and Myrrha fled into Arabia, where 
ffie was changed into a tree called myrrh. Bygin. fab. 58, 
2 75. Ovid. Met. x. 298. 
MYR'RHA, f. in botany. See Cicuta. 
MYR'RHEN, in ancient geography, a town of Afia, 
in Mefopotamia, fituated on the eaftern bank of the Eu- 
Ph MYR'RIIINE, adj. [myrrhinus, Lat.] Made of the 
myrrhine ftone. See Murrhine, p. 232. 
How they quaff in gold, 
Cryftal and myrrhine cups imbofs d with gems 
And ftuds of pearl. Milton's Paradife Lofi. 
MYR'RHIS,/ in botany. See Athamanta, Chje- 
rophyllum, Scandsx, andSiUM. 
MYR'SILUS, a Ion of Myrfus, the laft of the Hera- 
clidas 
