BALSAMITO. 
139 
White balsam, as I received it, was 
imported in globular earthen jars, sur- 
rounded by a kind of wove or plaited 
matting, and closed by an earthenware 
stopper. The jar enclosed in the matting, 
is about a foot high (to the top of the 
stopper) and ten and a-half inches in di- 
ameter, and it contains about twenty 
pounds of balsam, which has partially j ar , enclosed ly matting 
concreted or crystallized on the sides of containing the white balsam. 
the jar. 
When removed from the jar and put into a white glass bottle, 
it closely resembles in appearance strained American or Bordeaux 
turpentine. It is semifluid, or a soft solid ; and by exposure be- 
comes firmer. It is somewhat granular, apparently from intermix- 
ed resinous crystals. By standing, it partially separates into a 
white and more opaque crystalline resinous deposit, and a superior, 
more translucent, thinner, and more fluid portion. It is quite de- 
void of the fragrant cinnamic or vanilla odor of the balsams of Peru 
and Tolu. Its odor is not disagreeable, and is compounded of the 
peculiar smell of the balsamic matter of the pericarp, and of the 
melilot-like odor of the seed. One person who smelled it declared 
that it resembled the odor of cubebs. 
It is only partially soluble in alcohol, but more so in ether. By 
digesting it in rectified spirit, three products are obtained : 1. A 
white, tough, soft solid, which remains at the bottom of the vessel. 
2. An oleaginous yellow liquid which rests on the preceding; 
and 3, the spirituous solution which floats on No. 2. By diges- 
tion in ether, a portion of the balsam remains undissolved. The 
etherial tincture, by evaporation, yields a kind of fatty or resinous 
product. 
Balsamito. 
Esencia Tincturado del Balsamo Virgen ; Essence or Tincture 
of Virgin Balsam. — This is a tincture of the fruit, and is made 
by digesting the fruit (deprived of its wings) in rum. The sample 
which Mr. Skinner kindly gave me, is a clear liquid, having the 
color of sherry wine, and the odor is like that of the melilot (Me- 
lilotus officinalis) or of the tonka-bean, and a very bitter taste. 
When mixed with water, it forms a milky liquid. 
