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Show ay BALSAM OF GILEAD. astringent taste: on being kept for some time it becomesthin, limpid, light, of a greenish hue, andthen of a gold yellow, after which it grows thick like turpentine, and loses muchofits fragrance. Some comparethe smell of this balsamto thatof citrons, others to that of a mixture of rosemary andsageflowers. The chief mark of its goodness is said to be founded onthis, that when dropped on water it spreads itself all over the surface, forming a thin pellicle, tough enough to be taken up upon the point of a pin, and at the same time impregnating the water with its smell and flavour. MEDICAL VIRTUE, i 7 * 4 SS eee = Khe SPS eae / ee , + STA F be F It appears on Scripture authority, that the great value and use of this drug remounts to very early ages*, as it seems coeval with the India trade for pepper. To enumerateall the virtues and medicinalcases still attributed to it by eastern nations would be outraging the bounds of all rational credibility: but they who are desirous of this information may be gratified by consulting Alpinus. European physicians consider it to be not essentially different from other resinous fluids, or turpentines, especially as we find it imported here; it is therefore generally believed that the Canada and Copaiva balsams will answer every purpose for which it can be employed. In Turkey it is not only in high esteem as a medicine, but also as an odoriferous unguent and cosmetic: its effects with respect to its last-mentioned use seem to depend merely on its stimulating the skin; for it is observed by lady Mary Wortley Montague, that the day after she had used the balsam her face became red and swollen; an inconvenience whichshe suffered for three days +. SASSAFRAS TREE. LAURUSSASSAFRAS. Class 1X. Enneandria. Order 1. Monogynia, Essent. Gen. Cuar. Calyx none: Corolla calycine, six-parted: Nectary glandular, three tubercles, terminating in bristly points, surrounding the germen. Interior Filament glanduliferous: Drupe one-seeded. Spec. Cuar. Leaves three lobed, entire. a * Balm and myrrh were carried by the Ishmaelites to Egypt-—See Gen. ch. xxxvii. ver. 25. The high opinion entertainedof its virtues we learn from the following verse in Jeremiah :—“ Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? whythenis not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” —Ch. viii. ver. 22. + See Letter c. DESCRIPTION. Ir rises to a tree twenty or thirty feet high. Theleaves vary in form and size, some being oval and entire, others cut into lobes, of a pale green, veined, downy onthe inside, and placed alternate. Flowers in pendent spikes. HISTORY. This tree is a native of North America, and is cultivated in Jamaica. It is the wood which is commonly employed. It is brought to us in long branchedpieces, It is soft, light, and of |