AmAJu0gU^?7h6ar^,"}         T^  History  of  some  Drugs.  363 
the  pods  of  the  tree,  Fructus  balsami  indict,  are  met  with  in  the  lists  of 
Wittenberg  in  1646,  and  of  Nordhausen,  1657.  These  pods  are  still 
occasionly  imported  on  account  of  the  fragrant  resinous  contents  of  the 
large  ducts  around  the  seed.  Their  fragrance,  which  I  am  told  is 
much  appreciated  by  perfumers,  is  quite  different  from  that  of  the 
balsam  itself  (see  "  Pharmacographia,"  p.  184).  Balsamum  Jndicum 
nigrum  fluidum  is  another  name  frequently  applied  to  Peru  balsam 
Balsamum  Hispanicum  ("Documente,"  pp.  45  and  49)  may  rather  mean 
balsam  of  tolu.  It  is  hardly  possible  to  say  what  was  Balsamum  Amer- 
icanum  s.  Indicum  verum,  p.  41. 
Balsamum  hispanicum  siccum  seu  americanum  resinosum  in  the  tariff  of 
Schweinfurt,  4th  edition,  1644  ("  Documente,"  p.  49),  as  well  as  Bal- 
samum Indicum  durum  of  Ulm,  1648  ("  Documente,"  p.  53),  cannot  be 
doubted  to  mean  balsam^of  tolu.  The  product  of  Myroxylon  Pereirezy 
which  is  exclusively  prepared  on  the  balsam  coast  of  San  Salvador, 
having  been  formerly  carried  to  Callao,  the  chief  port  of  Peru  during 
the  Spanish  dominion,  the  name  of  Peru  balsam  was  given  to  it.  This 
may  account  for  the  appellation  of  Balsamum  hispanicum,  which  appears 
to  have  been  bestowed  upon  the  balsam  of  tolu,  inasmuch  as  it  used  to 
be  immediately  shipped  for  Spain — as  it  is  still — from  the  ports  of  New 
Granada. 
The  earliest  express  mention  of  Balsams  tolutawww,  I  have  met 
with  in  pharmaceutical  tariffs  occurs  in  that  of  the  city  of  Frankfurt  of 
1669,  quoted  in  the  "Documente,"  p.  65.  From  what  we  stated  in 
the  "  Pharmacographia,"  p.  177,  it  is  probable  that  the  drug  was  then 
likewise  used  in  England,  but  there  is  no  proof  of  the  fact  as  far  as  I 
can  see  ;  I  would  be  glad,  however,  to  be  corrected  in  this  opinion. 
Benzoin  began  to  be  introduced  as  a  commercial  article  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  sixteenth  century  (u  Pharmacographia,"  p.  362).  It  was 
abundantly  obtainable  in  the  middle  of  that  century,  for  Hieronymus 
Cardanus  states  in  his  work,  "  De  la  Subtilitk,"  French  translation,, 
1556,  p.  160,  that  "  belzoi  est  de  vile  prix  'pour  l'abondance."  Ben- 
zoin, according  to  the  custom  of  that  period,  was  then  submitted  to 
destructive  distillation,  by  which  it  yielded  benzoic  acid,  which  was 
first  noticed  by  the  famous  French  astrologer,  Michel  de  Nostredame,1 
about  the  year  1556.    This  preparation  appears  to  have  quickly  come 
1 "  Excellent  et  moult  utile  Opuscule  a  touts  necessaire  qui  desirent  avoir  cognois- 
sance  de  plusieurs  exquises  receptes/''  1556. 
