LIQUIDAMBAR  STYRACIFLUA  AND  ITS  BALSAMIC  RESIN.  35 
sequently  expressed  to  remove  the  balsam,  and  that  the  residual 
bark  is  the  storax  bark  of  commerce.  Viewed  from  the  stand- 
point afforded  by  the  American  tree,  I  should  be  more  inclined 
to  believe  the  former  account  was  the  correct  one,  and  that  in  the 
heating  process,  which  is  probably  carried  out  without  much  care, 
the  whole  mass  acquires  a  uniform  adhesive  texture,  and  a  semi- 
empyreumatic  odor,  points  which  chiefly  distinguish  the  oriental 
balsam  from  its  American  analogue. 
Earnest  endeavors  were  made  after  the  last  meeting  to  obtain 
some  practical  experiments  on  the  tree  as  it  grows  in  Tennessee, 
Arkansas,  and  other  places  from  friends  residing  in  those  locali- 
ties ;  but  all  my  correspondents  failed  me  except  my  friend  Hen- 
nell  Stevens,  Medical  Storekeeper  U.  S.  Army,  at  Memphis,  who 
sent  me  a  small  specimen  of  the  balsam  obtained  by  incising  the 
bark  transversely,  and  another  vial  of  balsam  the  result  of  natural 
exudation.  The  main  point  was  not  reached  ;  owing  to  the  dis- 
turbed condition  of  all  the  country  where  the  temperature  is  favor- 
able to  the  process,  and  for  want  of  the  time  necessary  to  make  the 
experiment,  it  has  not  been  possible  to  get  the  results  required. 
In  the  month  of  May  last,  I  determined  to  try  some  experiments 
on  the  New  Jersey  tree.  The  first  was  about  30  years  old  and  a 
foot  in  diameter,  growing  in  a  high  and  dry  soil  unfavorable  to 
its  development.  A  portion  of  the  outer  bark  was  removed,  and 
the  exposed  live  bark  wounded  by  bruising,  so  that  it  cracked  in 
several  places.  In  July  the  inner  bark  was  found  to  be  entirely 
dead,  and  beneath  the  dead  bark  where  it  joined  the  upper  edge, 
an  exudation  of  soft  resin  was  found,  like  that  from  the  south- 
west in  odor  and  taste.  Another  experiment  was  tried  upon  a 
tree  growing  near  water,  two  and  a  half  feet  in  diameter,  with  no 
better  success.  The  same  balsamic  exudation  after  a  time,  but 
too  limited  in  its  quantity  and  too  slow  in  its  secretion  to  meet 
the  case  required.  It  should  be  observed  that  the  bark  itself, 
when  recently  cut,  possesses  no  aroma  like  the  balsam.  The  lat- 
ter does  not,  like  the  turpentine,  circulate  in  the  juices  of  the 
plant,  but  appears  to  be  due  to  the  action  of  air  on  those  juices 
where  a  rupture  of  the  tissues  takes  place,  being  apparently  an 
effort  of  nature  to  heal  the  abrasion.  When  the  inner  bark,  free 
from  contact  with  the  oleo-resin,  is  triturated  with  a  little  water, 
