ON  STORAX. 
253 
Although  we  possess  no  modern  account  of  the  collection  of 
solid  Storax,  confirmatory  of  that  given  by  Dioscorides,  other 
than  those  I  have  quoted  (which  do  not,  however,  relate  to  col- 
lecting the  drug  for  the  purposes  of  commerce,)  there  exist  two 
remarkable  statements  of  the  method  of  collecting  Liquid  Storax, 
which  it  will  not  be  unprofitable  to  examine  with  some  attention. 
I  ought,  however,  first  to  state  that  it  is  questionable  whether  the 
Greeks  were  acquainted  with  Liquid  Storax :  Arab  writers  on 
the  other  hand,  distinctly  mention  it,  though  their  accounts  are 
far  from  satisfactory  and  clear.* 
The  first  of  these  two  statements  is  that  of  James  Petiver,  an 
apothecary  of  London,  who  was  noted  as  the  possessor  of  a  con- 
siderable collection  of  objects  of  natural  history. 
In  the  year  1708,  that  is  ten  years  before  his  death,  Petiver 
presented  to  the  Royal  Society  of  London  a  communication  which, 
verbatim  et  literatim,  is  as  follows: 
"  TJie  Manner  of  making  Styrax  liquida.  alias  Kosa  Mallas. 
Communicated  by  Mr.  James  Petiver,  F.R.S. 
Eosa  Mallas  grows  upon  the  Island  Cobross,  at  the  upper  end  of  the  Red 
Sea  near  Cadess,  which  is  5  days'  Journey  from  Suez :  It  is  the  Bark  off  a 
Tree  (taken  off  every  Year,  and  grows  again)  boiled  in  Salt  Water  till  it 
comes  to  a  Consistence  like  Bird-lime,  then  separated  and  put  into  a  Cask 
and  brought  to  Judda,  and  so  to  Mocha  in  June  and  July,  where  it  sells  from 
60  to  120  Dollars  per  Barrel,  according  to  its  Goodness  :  the  best  is  what  is 
freest  from  Clay  and  Dirt,  which  is  commonly  mixed  with  it ;  and  the  way 
to  try  it  is  by  washing  it  in  Salt  Water  which  will  cleanse  it :  The  Arabs 
and  Turks  call  it  Cotter  Mija. 
N.B.  A  Barrel  is  4201."f 
A  statement  so  precise  and  circumstantial  was  received  with 
more  or  less  credit,  and  we  find  it  quoted  by  Geoffroy,J  Hill,§ 
Alston,||  Merat  andDeLens,UMartiny,**  Guibourt,ff  Pereira,JJ 
Royle,§§&c. 
*  Avicennse  Liber  Canonis,  lib.  II.  tract.  2.  cap.  431.  600, 622.  (ed.  Venet. 
1564.) 
t  Philosophical  Transactions,  1708-1609.  Vol.  xxvi.  p.  44. 
t  Tract,  de  Mat.  Med.  (1741,)  T.  II.  p.  493. 
§  History  of  the  Materia  Medica  (1751,)  p.  713. 
II  Lectures  on  the  Materia  Medica  (1770,)  Vol.  II.  p.  418. 
Dictionnaire  de  Matiere  Medicate,  T.  IV.  (1 832,)  p.  128 
**  Encyklop.  d.  med.-pharm.  Nat.  u.  Rohwaarenk.  Bd.  I.  (1843)  p.  94. 
tt  Sistoire  des  Drogues  Simples.  T.  II.  (1849,)  p.  294. 
tt  Elem.  of  Mat.  Med.  Vol.  II.  (1850,)  p.  1216. 
§  Manual  of  Mat.  Med.  (1853)  p.  639. 
