34     LIQUIDAMBAR  STYRACIFLUA  AND  ITS  BALSAMIC  RESIN. 
of  turpentine,  and  has  a  stronger  smell  than  after  it  has  become 
resinified.  Contrary  to  the  statements  made  in  the  U.  S.  Dis- 
pensatory this  tree  furnishes  a  considerable  quantity  of  resin  in 
the  Middle  States  bordering  upon  the  Ohio.  It  is  annually  col- 
lected and  sold  under  the  name  of  gum  wax.  By  proper  incisions 
the  tree  will  yield  annually  about  three  pounds  of  the  resin." 
Prof.  Wright  says  its  composition  is  benzoic  acid,  volatile  oil, 
styracin,  &c,  which  accords  with  Bonastre. 
In  1856  the  writer  sent  a  specimen  of  this  balsam,  obtained  at 
Cincinnati,  to  Mr.  Hanbury  of  London,  who  in  a  letter  on  that 
subject  states  that  the  balsamic  acid  present  in  it  is  cinnamic  and 
not  benzoic  acid,  as  described  by  Guibourt,  Hodgson  and  others. 
At  the  recommendation  of  the  writer  this  balsam  was  made  the 
subject  of  an  inaugural  essay  presented  to  the  Philadelphia  Col- 
lege of  Pharmacy,  1860,  by  Win.  Prior  Creecy,  of  Mississippi, 
(see  vol.  viii.  3d  series  of  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,) 
who,  starting  from  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Hanbury,  sought  to  de- 
termine the  nature  of  the  volatile  acid  matter  in  the  balsam.  The 
results  of  numerous  experiments  by  Mr.  Creecy,  seems  to  prove 
that  the  chief  volume  of  the  acid  present  is  cinnamic,  but  that  the 
balsam  also  contains  a  smaller  portion  of  benzoic  acid.  He  also 
found  a  volatile  oily  substance,  having  the  fragrance  of  the  bal- 
sam, in  small  quantity,  besides  a  large  quantity  of  resin. 
These  are  the  principal  observations  I  have  been  able  to  collect 
in  reference  to  this  subject,  and  now  will  make  a  few  remarks 
pointing  more  directly  to  the  question  called  for  by  the  query  of 
1863.  * 
In  the  fewest  words  this  query  asks,  whether  the  Liquidambar 
of  the  United  States  will  yield  a  product  similar  to  storax,  if 
treated  like  the  Liquidambar  orientale,  the  source  of  that  drug. 
Now,  according  to  Mr.  Hanbury's  account  (Pharm.  Journ.  1857,) 
liquid  storax  is  prepared  by  removing  the  outer  bark  of  the  latter 
tree,  and  scraping  the  inner  live  bark  which  causes  it  to  secrete 
the  storax  balsam,  which  is  then  scraped  off  together  with  parts  of 
the  bark  and  purified  by  boiling  it  in  large  copper  boilers,  during 
which  probably  the  moisture  of  the  inspissated  juice  is  evaporated 
and  the  extraneous  bark  removed  ;  when  it  is  strained  into  casks. 
Another  account  says,  that  the  inner  bark  itself  is  boiled  and  sub- 
