Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/133

Rh M Y R M Y R 121 which has been restored as a dancing satyr ; and a bronze statue in the British Museum has since been recognized as a slight variation of the same subject. None of these works agree completely with the words of Pausanias or with one another, but the general resem blance is so striking that they must be free imitations of a single work. Marsyas is surprised either by the sight of the flute which Athena has thrown away or by the threatening action of the god dess ; his forward motion is suddenly checked, but he has not begun a retrograde motion. His hands, the parts which the mind com mands most quickly, are thrown wide apart without any definite object in their motion, and the body is poised between the preced ing action and the new action that will begin immediately. Pliny mentions a competition between Myron and Pythagoras of Rhegium, iu which the Pancratiast of the latter was adjudged superior. MYRRH is a gum-resin highly esteemed by the ancients as an unguent and perfume, used for incense in temples and also in embalming. The word is Semitic ; it appears in the Old Testament as &quot;i (Exod. xxx. 23; Ps. xlv. 8 ; Cant, passim), in Arabic as &quot; morr.&quot; In Exod. (I.e.) &quot; pure myrrh&quot; should rather be &quot;flowing myrrh,&quot; that is, the &quot; myrrha stacte &quot; of classical writers, the finest myrrh, ac cording to Pliny (xii. 35), exuding without incisions in the bark. So Johnson 1 says that it exudes from cracks in the trunk near the root and flows freely on stones under neath, the exudation being sometimes aided by bruising the bark with a stone. Myrrh was one of the gifts offered by the Magi, and a royal oblation of gold, frankincense, and myrrh is still annually presented by the queen on the feast of Epiphany in the Chapel Royal in London, this custom having been in existence certainly as early as the reign of Edward I. 2 Until the present century the botanical source of myrrh was enveloped in great obscurity. In 1826 Ehrenberg brought home specimens of the myrrh trees found at Jizan on the east side of the Red Sea, in lat. 16 40 N., and also on the neighbouring mountains of Jara. The more recent investigations of Hildebrandt (1878) show that one of the plants brought home by Ehrenberg and named Balsamodendron Myrrha yields the true myrrh. It was found by Hildebrandt growing on sunny slopes of the Sarat mountains at an elevation of 1600 to 3200 feet. It forms a low tree, attaining a height of not more than 10 to 12 feet, with thorny branches and a light grey bark, bearing some resemblance to those of the hawthorn. The leaves are ternate, the two lateral leaflets being minute in comparison with the central one ; they are smooth, obovate, and denticulate. The fruit is about the size of a pea, oval and somewhat compressed. The tree grows interspersed among Acacise, and Euphorbias in dwarfish thickets. The myrrh, according to Ehrenberg, when it first exudes is of an oily and then of a buttery con sistence, and of a yellowish white colour, gradually assum ing a golden and ultimately a reddish tinge as it hardens. Myrrh is chiefly collected, according to Vaughan, 3 in the Somali country and in the neighbourhood of Harar (9 20 N., 42 17 E.) south-west of Zeila, in the months of July and August (Johnson, loc. cit.), and is brought to the great fair of Berbera held in November, December, and January. Thence it is transported to Aden and shipped to Bombay, where it is sorted, the inferior kinds being sent chiefly to China and the finer sorts to Europe. The Banians of India, who trade in myrrh, have their business houses at Bombay, but employ partners or agents, who reside at Makallah and Aden to attend the fair at Berbera, and ex change Indian or English piece goods for myrrh, bdellium, and frankincense. Myrrh of the best quality is known as Turkey myrrh, and the inferior quality as East Indian myrrh, from being exported from Bombay. At the present time, however, all myrrh is imported either direct from Aden or from Bombay. The Somalis also cross over to 1 Travels in Abyssinia, i. 249. - Liber quotidianus Contra-rotulatoris Garderobne Edw. I., Lond., 1787, pp. xxxii. and 27. 3 Pharm. Journ., (1), xii. p. 227. the Arabian shore and collect this gum-resin on the hills about Shugra and Sureea to the east of Aden, where myrrh trees abound. The myrrh of this district differs slightly in appearance, and is less resinous than that of Somali Land, and in the opinion of Hanbury (Pharm., p. 143) is probably the produce of a distinct species of Balsamoden dron. The difference between African and Arabian myrrh was known to the ancients, who considered the Troglodyte or African myrrh the best. At Bombay this difference is still recognized. Specimens of the Arabian myrrh tree collected by Wykeham Perry in 1878 were less spinous than those of the Somali plant, but were too imperfect to determine if they belonged to a distinct species. Balsamo dendron Kua, R. Br., a small spiny Abyssinian species allied to B. Myrrha, as yet undescribed, was found by Salt to yield myrrh. Myrrh is usually imported in chests containing from one to two cwt., and is mixed with other gum-resins obtained from different species of Balsamodendron. The principal of these are subjoined. (1) Baisa Bol, Bhesa Bol, or Bissa Bol, probably the produce of Balsamodendron Kataf, Kunth, a tree which is known to the Somalis as hebbakhade, and which has much larger leaves than the myrrh tree. This gum-resin resembles myrrh in appearance, but has a disagreeable taste and is scarcely bitter. At Aden bissa bol is worth only 2J rupees per maund (28 K&amp;gt;), while myrrh sells for 9| rupees per maund. It is used in China, mixed with food, to give to milch cows to improve the quality and increase the quantity of milk, and when mixed with lime as a size to impart a gloss to walls. (2) Opaque bdellium, probably identical with the gum hotai described by Yaughan (loc. cit. and produced by B. Playfairii. When shaken with water it forms a slight but permanent lather, and on this account is used by the Somali women for cleansing their hair and by the men to whiten their shields. It is known as meena hdrma in Bombay, and is there used for the ex traction of the guinea-worm. (3) African bdellium is the produce of B. africanum, and is probably the tree described by Adanson as Nistoutt. The last two gum-resins are without the white streaks which are characteristic of myrrh and bissa bol; the former presents an opaque and the latter a resinous appearance, both being acrid, but having scarcely any bitterness or aroma. (4) Indian bdellium, probably identical with the Indian drug googul obtained in Scinde and Baluchistan from Balsamodendron Mukul and B. jmbescens, Hook, has an acrid taste, an odour resembling cedar-wood, and softens in the hand. It is probably the produce of B. Mukul which has recently been found by Balfour in Socotra. As met with in commerce true myrrh occurs in pieces of irregular size and shape, from half an inch to 2 or 3 inches 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 in varying proportions from 23 to 44 per cent., the resin being present in good specimens to the extent of 27 per cent., and the oil from f to 3 per cent. The resin appears to be a complex body, partly soluble in ether and partly in bisulphide of carbon. The gum is soluble in water and forms an adhesive mucilage. The odour of myrrh is due to the volatile oil, which is heavier than water. The bitterness is believed to be due to a glucoside, the chemical constitution of which has not been ascertained. It is obtained by treating with warm water the resin extracted by means of alcohol. Myrrh is used in medicine at present chiefly as an auxiliary to other drugs, such as iron and aloes, in order to strengthen and modify their action. It appears to have a special action on the XVII. 1 6