I 
RESINOUS  EXUDATION  OF  LIQUIDAMBER  STYRACIFLUA.  197 
saturation  with  ammonia,  may  be  precipitated  with  chloride  of 
ammonium  and  magnesium  ;  this  precipitate  will  contain  all  the 
common  phosphoric  acid.  The  acid  of  the  filtrate  is  then  to  be 
converted  into  the  ordinary  variety,  and  precipitated  as  before ; 
this  precipitate  will  now  contain  all  the  meta  and  pyrophosphoric 
acids,  the  amount  of  each  of  which  can  be  easily  calculated  from 
the  remaining  weight  after  the  deduction  of  the  terhydrate. 
Philadelphia,  March,  1860. 
ON  THE  RESINOUS  EXUDATION  OF  LIQUIDAMBER  STYRA- 
CIFLUA. 
By  William  Pryor  Creecy,  of  Mississippi. 
(An  Inaugural  Essay,  presented  to  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy.) 
The  attention  which  this  resinous  product,  and  the  interesting 
tree  from  which  it  is  derived,  has  already  received  from  phar- 
macologists, has  induced  me  to  make  it  the  subject  of  the 
investigations  which  follow,  with  a  special  view  to  ascertain  the 
nature  of  the  volatile  acid  or  acids  which  give  it  a  claim  to  be 
classed  among  Balsams. 
The  investigations  of  M.  Bonastre,  and  of  Wm.  Hodgson,  Jr., 
as  quoted  by  Dr.  Wood  in  the  U.  S.  Dispensatory,  attribute  to 
this  drug  benzoic  acid,  as  a  constituent,  and  according  to  the 
last  named  chemist,  it  is  in  the  proportion  of  4.2  per  cent.; 
several  other  constituents  are  also  noted.  The  experiments  of 
Mr.  Daniel  Hanbury,  however,  tend  to  show  the  absence  of 
benzoic  acid  and  the  existence  of  cinnamic  acid  in  this  balsam, 
and  all  the  others  derived  from  this  genus. 
The  specimen  examined  was  from  the  State  of  Mississippi, 
where  the  "Sweet  Gum"  tree  grows  to  the  height  of  near  100 
feet,  and  abounds  in  its  peculiar  resinous  ingredient.  When 
the  trees  are  "belted,"  preparatory  to  being  felled  in  clearing 
the  land,  the  balsam  exudes  very  abundantly,  and  thickens  to  a 
semifluid  consistence ;  the  outside  of  the  masses  becoming  dry 
and  hard. 
The  color  of  the  liquidamber  juice  when  fresh  and  pure  is  a 
transparent  yellow,  resembling  that  of  balsam  of  fir.  But  as 
it  thickens  it  becomes  opaque  and  white,  gradually  changing  to 
a  dirty  brown,  interspersed  with  tears  of  a  pure  white  color.  Its 
