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ON  THE  SOURCE  OF  BALSAM  OF  PERU. 
not  be  uninteresting  in  this  connection,  by  way  of  record,  to 
present  a  summary  of  it, 
The  first  author  referring  to  the  source  of  Balsam  of  Peru 
was  Monardes,  who  speaks  of  it  as  being  the  product  of  a  tree  in 
New  Spain  called  Xilo,  date  1565.  The  next  writer  upon  the 
subject  was  Francisco  Hernandez,  who  resided  from  1593  to 
1600  in  Mexico  and  New  Spain.  He  notices  four  balsam  trees, 
one  of  which  is  the  Hoitzilaxitl,  and  another  found  in  the  pro- 
vince of  Tolu. 
Linnaeus  appears  not  to  have  had  a  specimen,  but  the  younger 
Linnaeus  received  specimens  of  a  plant  said  to  yield  Peruvian 
Balsam,  from  Mutis.  This  was  called  Myroxylon  Peruiferum, 
and  a  description  published  in  the  Supplementum  Plantarum. 
This  specimen  consisted  of  the  leaf,  flowers  and  fruit.  A  de- 
scription was  given  by  Sir  James  E.  Smith,  in  Pees'  Cyclopaedia. 
Jacquin  published  an  account  of  a  species  which  he  called 
Myrospermum  frutescens. 
Lamarck  described  another  species  under  the  name  of  Myros- 
permum  pedicellatum,  (Encyclop.  Methodique,)  distinct  from  the 
plant  of  Mutis,  which  latter  he  regarded  as  identical  with  Jac- 
quin's  M.  frutescens.  The  M.  pedicellatum  was  collected  by 
Joseph  Jussieu. 
Ruiz  described  his  species  in  1792  as  called  Quinquino  in  the 
"  Kingdom  of  Peru."  The  paper  was  translated  and  published 
by  Lambert  in  1821,  in  his  Illustration  of  the  Grenus  Cinchona, 
&c.»  with  a  figure  to  which  has  been  appended  the  Linnsean 
name  Myroxylon  Peruiferum. 
In  1823  the  sixth  volume  •  of  the  Nova  Grenera  et  Species 
Plantarum  of  Kunth,  containing  the  results  of  Humboldt  and 
Bonpland's  explorations,  appeared.  The  plant  of  Buiz  and 
Lambert  is  there  designated  as  M.  pubescens,  and  the  name  M. 
Peruiferum  retained  by  him  for  the  Linnaean  plant,  a  view  co- 
incided in  by  De  Candolle. 
From  the  foregoing  sketch,  which  has  been  condensed 
from  Pereira's  first  paper,  it  is  clear  that  there  are  described 
four  plants  pertaining  to  the  genus  Myrospermum  or  Myroxylon. 
1.  The  Linnsean  plant,  sent  by  Mutis,  and  called  Myroxylon 
Peruiferum. 
2.  The  plant  of  Jacquin,  designated  as  the  Myrospermum 
frutescens. 
