Am.  Jour.  Pbarm.) 
October,  1895.  J 
Siam  Benzoin. 
523 
SIAM  BENZOIN.1  - 
Benzoin  is  also  known  in  English  commerce  as  Gum  Benjamin. 
It  is  a  gum  resin  obtained  by  incision  in  the  bark  of  trees  in 
Sumatra  and  Siam.  Benzoin  is  used  as  a  stimulant  and  expectorant 
in  chronic  bronchitis.  It  is  also  one  of  the  principal  ingredients  in 
Friar's  Balsam,  and  is  largely  used  for  incense.  Sumatra  benzoin 
is  yielded  by  Styrax  Benzoin,  Dry.,  a  well-known  tree.  Plants  of 
this  species  are  under  cultivation  at  Kew,  and  many  have  lately 
been  distributed  to  botanical  establishments  in  the  tropics  of  the 
New  World.  Of  the  tree  yielding  Siam  benzoin  we  know  very 
little.  As  long  ago  as  1865  Sir  R.  H.  Schomburgk,  then  British 
Consul  at  Bangkok,  Was  asked  to  investigate  the  subject,  but 
although  able  to  give,  at  second  hand,  a  very  interesting  account  of 
the  mode  of  collecting  the  resin,  he  was  unable  to  obtain  botanical 
specimens  of  the  tree  yielding  it.  Of  late  years  renewed  efforts 
have  been  made  to  solve  the  problem. 
Captain  Hicks,  of  Bangkok,  was  successful  in  obtaining  a  few 
small  plants  of  "  gum  benjamin  from  the  Northern  Laos  States"  in 
1882.  The  survivors  of  these  were  presented  to  the  Botanic 
Gardens  at  Singapore  by  Mr.  Jamie.  A  fuller  account  of  Captain 
Hicks'  efforts  is  given  by  Mr.  E.  M.  Holmes,  F.L.S.,  in  the  Phar- 
maceutical Journal,  XIV,  3,  p-  355-  The  locality  from  which  the 
plants  were  obtained  was  given  as  "  Suang  Rabang."  This  we 
now  know  is  a  misprint  for  Luang  Prabang,  a  district  in  the  extreme 
northeast  of  the  Shan  States  of  Siam,  bordering  on  Tran  Ninh,  in  the 
French  territory  of  Anam.  In  the  hope  that  the  Siam  benzoin  tree 
might  possibly  extend  to  the  Shan  States  of  Burma,  an  application 
was  addressed  by  Kew  to  the  India  Office  in  1889,  and  as  a  result  a 
careful  inquiry  was  made  by  the  Government  of  India,  in  Tenna- 
serim,  Upper  Burma,  and  the  adjoining  Shan  States.  In  1890  it  was 
reported  that  "  the  efforts  made  to  trace  the  existence  of  the  plant 
in  these  localities  have  been  unsuccessful." 
Apparently,  the  first  authentic  information  respecting  the  district 
in  which  the  tree  is  to  be  found  is  contained  in  a  recent  report  by 
Mr.  Beckett,  forwarded  to  the  foreign  office  by  Mr.  de  Bunsen  on  the 
Trade  of  Siam  for  1893  (Foreign  Office,  Annual  Series,  1895,  No. 
1520).  The  following  extract  shows  that  Siam  benzoin  is  ob- 
tained from  an  extremely  circumscribed  locality  on  the  east  bank  of 
1  Kew  Bulletin,  June  and  July,  1895. 
