The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1945-05-24
Small Territory In Central America
Is Worlds Source OF Balsam Of Peru

vast green bonnet, and bark the
color of sienna brown. It's wood is
of an odd violet-chestnut color with
very fine pore, rather hard and
extremely durable.
The sap of the tree, its resin,
however, a thick, dark, fragrant
scented substance, is most important
in the balsamero. The process of
extracting balsam is a delicate one
and must be done by experts.
Operations are generally started
at the time of the new moon; it is
removed from the trunk of the tree,
which has to be over twenty-five
years old-,and after a week or SO,
when the liquid starts to appear on
the tapped portion, the incision is
scorched with torches, an operation
which demands much skill since the
least neglect can set fire to the tree
and perhaps destroy it completely.
The heat from this process causing
the pitch to flow abundantly the in
cision is, after a certain period of
days, surrounded by cotton cloths
washed with scrupulous care, whose
/, object is to sop up the balsam as it
oozes out of the tree.
When the liquid secreted in that
particular section has been collected,
the cloths are unfastened, boiled
with hot water in a large receptacle
and wrung out in a crude rope press.
The substance thus obtained, after
being boiled anew to purify and re-
move the water, is known as
"Balsamo Negro" (black balsam) to
differentiate it from the crude, un-
boiled product of yellowish color.
1t is packed in drugs for export. It's
value is great because the method
used to extract the balsam is very
primitive, and up to the present
time, in spite of the fact that the
industry dates back to pre-Colonial
times, no apparatus has been devised
to extract and refine the product.
Besides serving as base for
perfumes, balsam of Peru has many
and varied uses in the medical field
Both its internal and external usage
are important.
In the treatment of wounds, this
Salvadorean product has had the
most notable effects. 1t is said that
the first preparation of balsam was
invented by Don Jose Eustaquio de
Leon of Guatemala but, only few
years ago, several Europeans, among
which were DR.. Dumont and DR..
Suter discovered its application in
connection with the dressing of
wounds.
Their process consists merely in
drenching the wound with balsam
and then covering it with sterilized
bandage."
Word has been received from first
aid stations in battlefronts all over
the world, telling of the wonders of
this medicament thanks to which
many lives have been saved by the
quick application of a protective coat
of this antiseptic to the surface of
wounds.
The war has placed balsam of
Peru in the front lines of the battle
against pain and infection.
We can find no better tribute to
the balsamero than that paid to it
in a recent article by a Salvadorean:
Mature combines clemency an
artistry in providing that a product
which affords physical healing and
sensory pleasure shall be procured
from one of the noblest of earth's
| trees.
Anyone beholding for the first
time the beauty and majesty of
balsamero would be likely to exclaim
There is a tree fit for Olympusr
But nature has decreed that this
hero of the forests shall be as useful
as it is ornamental. Like a blood
donor in times of stress, it shall give
of its own life stream to serve man.
kind"