58 
ON  AFRICAN  TURMERIC. 
two  or  three  pounds  of  each  sort  of  bark  are  requisite  ;  and  for  a  perfectly 
fair  experiment  they  ought  to  be  collected  from  the  same  individual  tree. 
The  attention  of  Englishmen  residing  in  the  countries  indicated  is  es- 
pecially requested  to  this  by  no  means  unimportant  question. 
Balsam  of  Peru. — The  drug  known  under  this  designation  is  produced, 
not  in  Peru,  but  in  Central  America,  in  a  district  lying  between  Acajutla 
and  Port  Libertad,  in  the  western  part  of  the  state  of  San  Salvador,  known 
as  the  Balsam  Coast.  The  tree  which  affords  it,  may  also  be  found  at 
Ispanguasate  (where  it  has  been  planted,)  and  near  Chiquimulilla,  and  on 
the  coast  of  Suchultepeques.  Of  this  tree,  which  is  the  Myrospermum  Pereirai 
of  Koyle,  good  flowering  specimens  are  much  desired,  as  are  also  fresh 
seeds,  in  order  that  the  plant  may  be  raised  in  our  hot-houses.  The  seeds 
should  be  transmitted  by  post,  as  their  vitality  is  not  long  retained. 
The  balsam  which  is  called  Balsamo  negro,  is  brought  for  sale  to  Sonso- 
nate,  previously  to  shipment  at  Acajutla. 
Although  the  plant  above  mentioned  is  undoubtedly  that  which  affords 
the  balsam  of  Peru  of  commerce,  yet  there  is  reason  to  think  that  a  balsam 
of  similar  character  was  formerly  extracted  from  other  species.  Monardes 
(1565)  states  that  balsam  of  Peru  is  lighter  than  water,  but  the  balsam  of 
modern  times  is  heavier.  Inquire  into  this.  Is  not  balsam  prepared  at 
Chongon,  near  Guayaquil?  Is  any  produced  in  Mexico?  We  have  re- 
ceived the  seeds  of  a  Myrospermum  from  that  country. 
Balsam  of  Tolu. — Myroxylon  Toluifera,  H.  B.  K.,  the  tree  which  affords 
this  substance  is  very  imperfectly  known.  It  grows  in  New  Granada,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Turbaco,  and  especially  in  the  high  savannas  near 
Tolu,  Corozol,  and  the  town  of  Tacasuan.  It  is  also  found  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river  Sinu,  near  El  Zapote,  and  here  and  there  on  the  banks  of  the 
Rio  Magdalena,  in  the  environs  of  Garapatas  and  Mompox. 
Is  it  not  possible  to  obtain  at  least  the  seeds,  not  to  mention  a  supply  of 
good  botanical  specimens,  of  this  famous  tree,  and  some  account  of  the  ex- 
traction of  and  trade  in  the  balsam  it  affords  ? 
ON  AFRICAN  TURMERIC. 
By  William  F.  Daniell,  M.  D.,  F.  L. 
Hon.  Member  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain. 
Among  other  vegetable  products  resorted  to  by  the  native 
Africans  for  the  purposes  of  dyeing,  are  certain  tubers  procured 
from  a  plant  apparently  indigenous  to  West  Africa.  Being  fre- 
quently offered  for  sale  in  the  markets  of  Sierra  Leone,  my  at- 
tention was  engaged  in  1856  to  discover  their  source  and  appli- 
ances.   These  rhizomes,  in  their  fresh  state,  were  of  a  greyish 
