ON THE MYROSPERMUM OF SONSONATE. 
133 
ON THE MYROSPERMUM OF SONSONATE, FROM WHICH BALSAM 
OF PERU, WHITE BALSAM, AND BALSAMITO ARE OBTAINED. 
By Jonathan Pereira, M. D., F. R. S. 
[In the November and December numbers of the London Phar- 
maceutical Journal, Dr. Pereira has given a very elaborate investi- 
gation of the botanical history of the plants to which the Balsam 
of Peru has been attributed by different writers and botanists ; fol- 
lowed by a description of a species of Myrospermum, growing in 
Central America, which Dr. P. considers as the true source of the 
drug, and which, for the present, he calls the Myrospermum of Son- 
sonate, the specific designation being taken from the geographical 
locality of the tree. AVe had, in common with most others who 
had not given special attention to the subject, presumed that the 
Balsam of Peru was derived from the north-west part of South 
America, and perhaps originally from some part of Peru, until the 
appearance of M. Guibourt's paper in the Journal de Pharmacie, 
Feb., 1850. It is with much interest, therefore, that we have 
read the papers of Dr. Pereira, especially the last one, from which 
mainly the following notice is taken, which has reference chiefly 
to the Myrospermum received and described by Dr. Pereira, from 
Mr. Skinner, late of Guatemala ; referring those of our readers who 
may desire to investigate the botanical details of the subject, to 
the original papers in the Pharmaceutical Journal. — Editor.] 
In the last number of the Pharmaceutical Journal I stated, that 
I had received from Sonsonate a species of Myrospermum, from 
which Balsam of Peru, White Balsam, and Balsamito are obtained. 
I then believed the plant to be identical with that figured by Lam- 
bert, and which according to both Kunth and De Candolle is M. 
pubescens. A careful examination of the specimens in the British 
Museum, from which Lambert's figures were drawn, has led me to 
doubt the identity of his plant either with the Sonsonate species or 
with the pubescens of Kunth and De Candolle. For the present, 
therefore, I shall designate thf> olant which I have received, the 
" Myrospermum of Sonsonate." 
The specimens of the Myrospe-i mum of Sonso?iate, which I have 
received, consist of branches, leaves, and fruits. The flowers I 
have not met with. 
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