Am-  Jour.  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1889. 
Balsamodendron  Berryi. 
509 
fracture.  The  surface  had  an  oily  appearance,  and  when  scratched 
or  rubbed  with  some  hard  implement  showed  milk-white  markings. 
Pieces  of  reddish-brown  bark  were  attached  to  some  fragments,  and 
others  were  adhering  to  cloth  in  which  it  had  been  collected.  Powder 
was  of  a  dirty  white  color,  and  when  rubbed  up  with  water  made  a 
thin  emulsion.  The  odor  was  oily,  not  fragrant.  Colonel  Beddome 
alludes,  however,  to  an  aroma  given  off  by  the  plant.  The  taste  was 
simply  mucilaginous.  It  dissolves  for  the  most  part  in  water,  leaving 
a  few  flocks  of  soft  resin  and  impurities  undissolved. 
A  selected  sample  of  the  gum-resin  gave  to  water  84  per  cent,  of 
gum ;  it  contained  5  per  cent,  of  moisture  aud  6*6  per  cent,  of  mineral 
matter.  The  gum  was  gelatinized  by  ferric  chloride,  and  like  that 
from  true  myrrh,  was  not  precipitated  by  neutral  plumbic  acetate. 
The  resin  was  soft,  transparent,  tasteless,  odorless  and  neutral  in 
reaction.  It  was  soluble  in  alcohol,  ether,  bisulphide  of  carbon  and 
chloroform.  The  solution  in  alcohol  was  not  colored  by  ferric 
chloride,  and  gave  a  right-handed  rotation  when  examined  with 
polarized  light.  The  resin  moistened  with  alcohol  gave  no  color 
with  concentrated  nitric  or  hydrochloric  acid,  and  no  violet  liquid 
was  obtained  when  bromine  was  added  to  its  solution  in  carbon  bisul- 
phide. The  resin  separated  by  alcohol  and  evaporated  was  exposed 
to  the  heat  of  a  water  bath  for  a  week  and  remained  soft  and  tena- 
cious ;  after  this  it  was  exposed  to  the  air  for  about  two  months,  but 
its  consistence  was  not  altered,  and  when  examined  under  the  micro- 
scope it  was  seen  to  be  perfectly  amorphous. 
The  myrrh  from  the  Muluhiiivary  is  evidently  distinct  from  the 
true  myrrh,  Arabian  myrrh  and  Bissa  Bol.  Its  freedom  from  bitter- 
ness and  fragrance  would  render  it  unfit  as  a  substitute  for  the  genuine 
drug  and  useless  as  a  medicinal  agent.  It  gives  off  no  odor  when 
burnt,  and  is  therefore  unsuitable  as  an  ingredient  in  incense.  It 
forms  a  good  adhesive  mucilage,  and  might  be  used  as  a  convenient 
addition  to  some  kinds  of  confectionery.  An  allied  species  of  myrrh 
yielding  a  similar  exudation  is  the  Balsamodendron  pubescens,  growing 
in  Beluchistan,  and  remarkable  for  the  large  proportion  of  gum  in 
the  gum  resin. — Pharm.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  Aug.  24,  1889,  p.  143. 
AntipyrJn  has  been  successfully  used  as  an  antigalactic  by  Dr.  Salemi 
(Bull.  gen.  de  Therap).  Using  0*5  gm.  three  times  a  day,  the  manmary  secretion 
was  diminished  on  the  first  day  and  ceased  on  the  third  day. 
