Page:EB1911 - Volume 19.djvu/130

 existence certainly as early as the reign of Edward I. True myrrh is the product of Balsamodendron (Commiphora) Myrrha, a small tree of the natura.l order Amyridaceae that grows in eastern Africa and Arabia, but the name is also applied to gum resins obtained from other species of Balsamodendron.

As met with in commerce true myrrh occurs in pieces of irregular size and shape, from in. to 2 or 3 in. in diameter, and of a reddish-brown colour. The transverse fracture has a resinous appearance with white streaks; the flavour is bitter and aromatic, and the odour characteristic. It consists of a mixture of resin, gum and essential oil, the resin being present to the extent of 25 to 40%, with 2 to 8% of the oil, myrrhol, to which the odour is due.

Myrrh has the properties of other substances which, like it, contain a volatile oil. Its only important application in medicine is as a carminative to lessen the griping caused by some purgatives such as aloes. The volatile oils have for centuries been regarded as of value in disorders of the reproductive organs, and the reputation of myrrh in this connexion is simply a survival of this ancient but ill-founded belief.

 MYRTLE. The  of the Greeks, the myrtus of the Romans, and the myrtle, Myrtus communis (see fig.), of botanists, as now found growing wild in many parts of the Mediterranean region, doubtless all belong to one and the same species. It is a low-growing, evergreen shrub, with opposite leaves, varying in dimensions, but always small, simple, dark-green, thick in texture, and studded with numerous receptacles for oil. When the leaf is held up to the light it appears as if perforated with pinholes owing to the translucency of these oil-cysts. The fragrance of the plant depends upon the presence of this oil. Another peculiarity of the myrtle is the existence of a prominent vein running round the leaf within the margin. The flowers are borne on short stalks in the axils of the leaves. The flower-stalk is dilated at its upper end into a globose or ovoid receptacle enclosing the 2- to 4-partitioned ovary. From its margin proceed the five sepals, and within them the five rounded, spoon-shaped, spreading, white petals. The stamens spring from the receptacle within the petals and are very numerous, each consisting of a slender white filament and a small yellow two-lobed anther. The style surmounting the ovary is slender, terminating in a small button-like stigma. The fruit is a purplish berry, consisting of the receptacle and the ovary blended into one succulent investment enclosing very numerous minute seeds. The embryo-plant within the seed is usually curved. In cultivation many varieties are known, dependent on variations in the size and shape of the leaves, the presence of so-called double flowers, &c. The typical species is quite hardy in the south of England. The Chilean species, M. Ugni, a shrub with ovate, dark green leaves and white flowers succeeded by globular red or black glossy fruit with a pleasant smell and taste, is a greenhouse shrub, hardy in south-west Britain. The common myrtle is the sole representative in Europe of a large genus which has its headquarters in extra-tropical South America, whilst other members are found in Australia and New Zealand. The genus Myrtus also gives its name to a very large natural order, Myrtaceae, the general floral structure of which is like that of the myrtle above described, but there are great differences in the nature of the fruit or seed-vessel according as it is dry or capsular, dehiscent, indehiscent or pulpy; minor differences exist according to the way in which the stamens are arranged. The aromatic oil to which the myrtle owes its fragrance, and its use in medicine and the arts, is a very general attribute of the order, as may be inferred from the fact that the order includes, amongst other genera,  (q.v.), Pimenta and Eugenia (cloves). Myrtol, a constituent of myrtle oil, has been given in doses of 5–15 minims on sugar or in capsules for pulmonary tuberculosis, fetid bronchitis, bronchiectasis, and similar conditions. It appears to lessen expectoration in such cases. The leaves of Myrtus chekan are aromatic and expectorant, and have been used in chronic bronchitis.

MYSIA, the district of N.W. Asia Minor in ancient times inhabited by the Mysi. It was bounded by Lydia and Phrygia on the S., by Bithynia on the N.E., and by the Propontis and Aegean Sea on the N. and W. But its precise limits are difficult to assign, the Phrygian frontier being vague and fluctuating, while in the north-west the Troad was sometimes included in Mysia, sometimes not. Generally speaking, the northern portion was known as Mysia Minor or Hellespontica and the southern as Major or Pergamene.

The chief physical features of Mysia (considered apart from that of the Troad) are the two mountain-chains, Olympus (7600 ft.) in the north and Temnus in the south, which for some distance separates Mysia from Lydia, and is afterwards prolonged through Mysia to the neighbourhood of the Gulf of Adramyttium. The only considerable rivers are the Macestus and its tributary the Rhyndacus in the northern part of the province, both of which rise in Phrygia, and, after diverging widely through Mysia, unite their waters below the lake of Apollonia about 15 m. from the Propontis. The Caïcus in the south rises in Temnus, and from thence flows westward to the Aegean Sea, passing within a few miles of Pergamum. In the northern portion of the province are two considerable lakes, Artynia or Apolloniatis (Abulliont Geul), and Aphnitis (Maniyas Geul), which discharge their waters into the Macestus from the east and west respectively.

The most important cities were (q.v.) in the Valley of the Caïcus, and  (q.v.) on the Propontis. But the whole sea-coast was studded with Greek towns, several of which were places of considerable importance; thus the northern portion included Parium, Lampsacus and Abydos, and the southern