Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  I 
May,  1881.  J 
The  XomtJiorrJum  Resins. 
217 
ill  the  "American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,"  1880,  p.  210;  the  analysis 
was  made  in  the  laboratory  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy, 
under  the  supervision  of  Prof.  J.  M.  Maisch  and  Dr.  F.  B.  Power, 
and  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  F.  L.  Slocum  for  the  use  his  of  microscope, 
with  which  I  have  been  enabled  to  produce  the  drawings  of  the  sec- 
tions. 
NOTES  ON  THE  XANTHORRHCEA  RESINS. 
By  John  M.  Maisch. 
Mead  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  April  19. 
At  the  last  pharmaceutical  meeting  a  resin  was  exhibited  under  the 
name  of  giini  aoroides,  and  it  ^vas  stated  to  be  a  new  Australian  pro- 
duct. Shortly  afterwards,  during  a  visit  to  New  York,  I  made  some 
inquiries  in  relation  to  this  supposed  new  commercial  article  and  was 
surprised  to  learn  that  at  one  wholesale  drug  house  it  had  been  in 
stock  fully  ten  years  ago,  and  subsequently  I  learned  from  Mr.  Chas. 
Bullock  that  a  quantity  of  the  same  article  had  been  on  hand  at  the 
store  formerly  kept  by  Mr.  Daniel  B.  Smith  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ago.  It  was  evident  from  the  information  received  that  the 
resin  was  not  a  new  article  in  this  country,  and  on  examination  nume- 
rous notices  of  it  were  found,  from  which  it  became  evident  that  the 
appellation  acroides  is  a  corruption  of  acaroides,  and  that  the  resin  is 
identical  with  Botany  Bay  resin,  which  name  is  better  known,  at  least 
to  the  writer.  Dunglison's  dictionary  says  of  the  genus  Xanthorrhoea : 
"  There  are  several  species.  Two  resins  are  obtained  from  them;  one, 
the  yellow  resin  of  Xanthorrhoea  or  of  New  Holland,  resina  lidea  Novi 
Belgii,  Botany  Bay  resin  or  gum,  ac'aroid,  resin  or  gum,  resina  vel 
gummi  acaroVdes,  which  probably  resembles  tolu  and  storax  in  medi- 
cinal properties ; .  the  other,  the  red  resin  of  Xanthorrhcea  or  hlackboy 
gumP 
This  quotation  gives  the  various  synonyms  of  the  substance  in 
question  and  points  also  to  its  origin.  A  tolerably  full  account  of  it 
and  the  allied  resin  or  resins  may  be  found  in  Pereira's  Materia  Medica, 
in  Guibourt's  Drogues  simples,  etc.  The  following  notes  are  compiled 
from  these  and  other  sources.  » 
The  genus  Xanthorrhoea  belongs  to  the  natural  order  of  liliacea?,  is 
confined  to  Australia  and  consists  of  shrubby  or  arborescent  plants, 
somewhat  palm-like  in  appearance  and  having  at  the  summit  dense 
tufts  of  very  long,  wiry,  narrow,  two-edged  or  somewhat  triangular 
