Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/269

 BALSAMS 249 and black balsams are very differently described by different authorities, and these descriptions are given in the paper referred to. The black balsam is a sirup of the consistency of honey, of a deep red-brown color, translucent, of a strong smell, and an intolerably acrid bitter taste. Owing to its high price it is found profit- able to adulterate it, and this is done with olive oil, oil of turpentine, and copaiba. It is tested by mixing a few drops of it with twice as many of concentrated sulphuric acid, and then adding water ; if pure, a little resin is obtained. Copaiba may be detected by the smell. When pure, 1,000 parts of balsam will, by the benzoic acid it contains, saturate 75 parts of crystallized carbonate of soda. The composition of the balsam, according to Stolze, is as follows : Brown, slightly soluble resin 2-40 per cent. Brown resin 20'70 " Oil cinnameine 69-00 " Benzoic and cinnamio acids 6'40 " Kxtract 0-60 " Loss and moisture 0-90 " 100-00 " This balsam is used in perfumery, in the man- ufacture of sealing wax, lozenges, tinctures, pomatums, and as a substitute for vanilla in liqueurs, chocolate, &c. Balsam of Tolu is obtained in New Granada, South America, in the region of Tolu and Turbaco, a few miles S. of Cartagena, and also along the Magdalena river. The tree which produces it is the myrospermum toluiferum. The balsam differs very little from that of Peru, only it becomes resinified more easily. Their chemical compo- sition is the same. When fresh it is of a reddish brown color, soft like turpentine, but gradually becomes harder. It has an agreeable odor like benzoin, and a sweetish taste. It is often the mixture heated. If no resin is present, the odor of benzoic and cinnamic acid is per- ceived. Dragon's blood is the product of an East India tree, called the calarmts draco, and is also obtained in Africa and South America from a number of other trees. It is prepared in the form of drops and small balls of a dark red color, and is also put up in sticks and ir- regular-shaped cakes. Its use is for coloring varnishes, staining marble, preparing gold lac- quer, and for tooth powders and washes. It was formerly used in medicine as an astringent, but is now regarded as inert. Storax is rarely met with unadulterated with foreign matters ; and the various mixtures sold by this name have caused uncertainty as to its real charac- ter. It is often confounded with liquidambar, but is distinguished from it by its peculiar vanilla-like odor, which, as well as the styrax family of plants, from which it is procured, connect it more closely with benzoin. The species of the tree is the officinalis ; it grows Balsam of Tolu (Myrospermum toluiferum). adulterated with resin, which may be detected by the fumes of sulphurous acid, which are set free when sulphuric acid is poured upon it and Styrax officinalis. in Asiatic Turkey, and the shipments of this balsam are from Trieste. It is of liquid con- sistency, and of gray, brown, or black color, according to its purity. Its uses are in medi- cine as an expectorant, and as an ingredient in ointment. Liquidambar is the resinous pro- duct of the common sweet gum tree of the United States. It is only, however, in the warm latitudes of Mexico and Louisiana that this tree yields its balsam. This is of thin con- sistence, yellowish color, agreeable smell, and acrid taste. It becomes thicker, of darker col- or, and contains a larger proportion of benzoic acid, as it increases in age. It may be used for the same purposes as storax, but is more highly esteemed and better known in Europe than in this country. The Chinese lac, or varnish, is described by Dr. Ure as a balsam of the benzoic acid class, and derived from the bark of the augia sinensis. The Canada bal- sam is the gum that exudes from the balsam