THE 
AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
JULY,  1861. 
ON  THE  ORIGIN  OF  BAY  RUM. 
By  John  M.  Maisch. 
Bay  rum  is  a  distilled  spirit  imported  into  the  United  States 
from  St.  Thomas,  and  probably  other  West  Indian  islands.  It 
has  a  very  agreeable  and  lasting  aromatic  odor,  and  is  ex- 
tensively used  as  an  external  stimulant  application,  particularly 
to  the  hair.  To  what  extent  it  is  known  in  continental  Europe 
I  am  unable  to  say  ;  I  do  not,  however,  recollect  of  having  met 
with  it  there.  That  it  is  little  known  in  Europe  may  also  be 
judged  from  the  fact  that  it  is  not  even  mentioned  in  Piesse's 
Art  of  Perfumery. 
With  us  it  is  an  article  of  commerce,  of  perfumery,  and,  to  a 
certain  extent,  of  medicine  ;  but  its  origin  has  never  been  made 
known.  I  believe  that  it  was  popularly  supposed  to  have  been 
derived  from  the  leaves  of  Laurus  nobilis,  Lin.,  probably  for  no 
other  reason  than  because  of  the  English  name  of  sweet  bay  for 
this  species.  The  leaves,  however,  though  aromatic,  possess  an 
entirely  different  odor  and  taste  from  that  of  bay  rum  ;  besides, 
this  sweet  bay  is  a  native  of  Asia  Minor,  and  is  cultivated  and 
naturalized  in  Europe  south  of  the  Alps.  There  are  numerous 
aromatic  Lauracese  indigenous  to  the  western  hemisphere,  and 
it  is  scarcely  to  be  supposed  that  the  former  would  be  cultivated 
merely  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  distillate  from  the  fresh 
leaves,  tor  the  dried  leaves  and  berries  are  little  employed  here, 
and  the  market  is  kept  well  supplied  from  Southern  Europe. 
But  the  name  of  "  bay  "  is  by  our  people  not  solely  applied 
to  the  above  species  of  Laurus ;  various  odoriferous  shrubs  and 
trees,  like  the  magnoliae,  which  have  coriaceous  or  sempervirent 
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