COPAL  RESIN, 
255 
Dr.  Desnos  remarks,  in  conclusion,  that  results  even  more 
favorable  may  be  obtained  from  the  combined  action  of  the 
resinous  extract  of  male  fern  with  pumpkin-seeds  ;  the  follow- 
ing is  the  formula  recommended  by  Dr.  Debout : — 
R  Pumpkin-seeds,  3x. 
Sugar,  gj. 
Water,  gvj. 
Extr.  of  male  fern,  3j'-ij. 
To  be  taken  fasting  in  four  doses,  at  intervals  of  a  quarter  of 
an  hour. — Lond.  Pharm.  Journ.,  and  Dublin  Medical  Press, 
from  Journ.  of  Pract.  Med.  and  Surgery. 
COPAL  RESIN. 
To  clear  up  any  of  the  doubts  which  exist  as  to  the  true 
source  or  rather  sources  of  this  resin,  would  be  to  solve  one  of 
the  many  problems  in  economical  botany.  The  term  Copal,  as 
is  well  known,  is  applied  in  commerce  to  most  clear  resins  capa- 
ble of  producing  a  colorless  varnish ;  for  instance,  East  Indian 
Copal  or  Piney  Varnish  is  produced  by  Vateria  indiea,  L.,  a 
tree  of  the  Natural  Order  Dipterocarpacece,  while  the  African 
copals  are  undoubtedly  the  produce  of  Leguminous  trees.  The 
source  of  gum  anime  is  another  of  these  economic  puzzles.  One 
of  the  differences  between  those  two  resins — copal  and  anime — 
is  that  the  former  is  mostly  very  clear  and  almost  colorless, 
while  the  latter  is  always  of  a  brownish  tint.  Both  resins  are 
sometimes  rough  on  the  surface,  caused  by  the  action  of  sand 
while  the  resin  is  in  a  soft  state.  The  trees  grow  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  seashore,  and  the  resin  exuding  trickles  down 
and  buries  itself  in  the  sand  beneath.  This  roughened  surface, 
called  at  Zanzibar  "  goose-skin,"  is,  of  course,  found  only  on 
the  resin  which  has  been  buried,  but  the  distinguishing  char- 
acters of  the  resins  themselves  are  so  well  known  as  hardly  to 
need  mention ;  what  we  are  chiefly  concerned  about  is  to  know 
how  many  distinct  plants  furnish  the  Copal  of  commerce. 
Lieut.-Col.  Playfair,  H.  M.  Consul  at  Zanzibar,  has  recently 
transmitted  to  the  Kew  Museum,  in  answer  to  a  request  of  the 
late  Sir  W.  J.  Hooker,  some  fine  specimens  of  the  bark  of  a  tree 
