192 
NOTE ON VANILLA. 
and used in Peru as Balsam of Vanilla, an article not known 
in Europe or this country. The drying operation is accom- 
plished in the shade, and each fruit is touched with oil, to 
keep it supple and to keep off the insects. When fully pre- 
pared, bundles are formed, composed of from five to one 
hundred pieces. The odor is exceedingly sweet and agreea- 
ble in this state ; in order to retain its freshness and value, 
it is preserved in close tin or leaden canisters. Some other 
modes of preparation are mentioned; thus, the fruit is dip- 
ped in boiling water, drained by hanging it up, and dried by 
exposure to a current of air for 15 days. It is then wrapped 
in oiled paper, by which its qualities are preserved. The 
Mexicans are said to prepare Vanilla by a kind of fermenta- 
tion, which they arrest in time. Perhaps it is to this fermen- 
tative action that it owes its flavor, as the fruit when green 
possesses none of it, but acquires it subsequently. 
According to Guibourt, there are three varieties of this 
drug, which " appear to be attributable to three varieties of 
the same plant, for to the present, botanists recognise but one 
species." 
The first sort, which is most esteemed, corresponding with 
what the Spaniards call Leg or Lec, legitimate ; it is from six 
to eight inches long, three or four lines broad; wrinkled and 
grooved lengthwise, narrow at the extremities and curved at 
the lower end; it is a little soft and viscid, of a deep reddish 
brown color, and possessed of a strong and sweet odor, similar 
to that of Balsam of Peru. 
When kept in a dry place, and in a vessel not closely co- 
vered, this article is not long in becoming covered with bril- 
liant needle-shaped crystals, those of Benzoic acid. It is 
then called frosted vanilla. 
The second sort, is the Simarona, or bastard Vanilla. 
This has all the physical characters of the preceding, and it 
is evident that it is from the same species ; it, however, is 
smaller, of a less deep brown color, dryer, less aromatic, and 
not frosted.* 
* Hist. Abregee des Drogues Simples. 
