Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/120

 112 MYRTLE and with a dull oily kind of fracture; its odor is aromatic, characteristic, and pleasant to most persons ; it has an aromatic and bit- ter taste. Though known in commerce as gum myrrh, it is a true gum resin, containing nearly 28 per cent, of two kinds of resin, about 64 per cent, of gum, some volatile oil, &c. It is imported in chest's of about 200 Ibs., which contain lumps of various qualities ; it is sorted by the dealers into myrrh of two or three grades. The chests often contain inferior gums added accidentally or intentionally; one of the most frequent is a gum resembling Sene- gal, which is readily recognized by its shining fracture and lack of proper taste ; bdellium, also found as an impurity, is distinguished by being softer and darker colored. Alcohol dissolves the resin and volatile oil of myrrh, leaving the gum, and a tincture represents the active por- tions of the drug. "When triturated with water the gurn dissolves, and the finely divided resin and oil are held in suspension and form a milky emulsion, one of the forms in which myrrh is administered. The Hebrews employ- ed myrrh in preparing the ointment for the rite of consecration, and it is mentioned as one of the articles used in the purification of women, in embalming, and as a perfume. It is now employed in medicine as a stimulant and tonic ; it is seldom prescribed alone, but with prep- arations of iron and vegetable bitters; it is given in doses of from 5 to 20 grains or more. Externally myrrh is employed to stimulate in- dolent ulcers and to dress wounds that are slow of healing, and is a popular remedy for soft and spongy gums, for which purpose the tincture largely diluted with water is used. It has been proposed to utilize the residue after the preparation of the tincture for the manu- facture of a coarse mucilage. MYRTLE, a name which, with or without a prefix, is given to several widely different plants, but properly belonging to myrtus corn- munis, an evergreen shrub of the Mediterra- nean region, which is the type of a very large and important order, the myrtacece. The myr- tle family consists of trees or shrubs, with simple, entire, mostly aromatic leaves, which are marked by pellucid or resinous dots, and are without stipules ; the flowers are perfect, the calyx tube adherent to the ovary, and the petals and numerous stamens borne upon the throat of the calyx tube or upon a disk which bor- ders it ; the fruit a berry or capsule ; seeds without albumen. This family abounds in the tropics and the southern hemisphere; a few species belonging to the genera are found in southern Florida. Among the important plants and products of this family are the clove, all- spice, guava, cajeput, rose apple, Brazil and Sapucaya nuts, and the gigantic and useful eucalyptus trees of Australia. The common myrtle is a shrub, which even in favorable situations does not exceed 20 ft. in height, with opposite shining leaves and axillary peduncles, each bearing a single white or rose-tinged flow- er, which is succeeded by a several-seeded berry. The plant, having been so long in cultivation, presents numerous varieties differing in the size and shape of their leaves and color of the fruit ; the latter is naturally black, but there are white-berried varieties, as well as those Common Myrtle (Myrtus communia). with their leaves striped and spotted with white or yellow markings. In England the myrtle is barely hardy in the southern counties, and in our northern states it is only seen as a pot plant, or grown in tubs to decorate the grounds in summer, and removed to the cellar or a pit for the winter. In those southern localities where the camellia and Cape jas- mine live without protection the myrtle is hardy. As with many other plants known to the ancients, there are numerous legends at- taching to the myrtle ; it was sacred to Venus, and the temples of that goddess were sur- rounded by groves of myrtle; wreaths of it were worn by the Athenian magistrates as symbols of authority, and the victors in the Olympic games were crowned with it. The buds and berries were formerly used to flavor many dishes, and they had a reputation for medicinal properties, the aromatic berries and other portions of the plant being tonic and stimulant. The Tuscans used the plant in the preparation of a wine called myrtidanum. At present the chief use of the myrtle is in perfumery. Eau flange is a very fragrant astringent water, distilled from the flowers; the leaves mixed with other aromatics are used for sachet powders. The wood is hard and handsomely mottled, but its use is con- fined to small articles of turnery. Bay rum owes its peculiar fragrance to a volatile oil obtained from the leaves of myrcia acris, a West Indian plant of this family. The myr- tle is readily propagated from cuttings of the just hardening young shoots. The plant known in this country as myrtle or running myrtle belongs to a very different family. (See