BALM OF GILEAD. The earliest specifics against personal injuries, resorted to by mankind, were probably the different parts of vegetables produced in their respective countries; and hence we find that most savages are acquainted with vulneraries prepared by the hand of nature, or that they seek to improve them from decoctions and infusions of roots, flowers, and leaves. Among the [7:4:322]more precious substances obtained from plants, applied as curative of wounds by the ruder inhabitants of the eastern climates, the balm of Gilead, or balsam of Mecca, has been eminently distinguished during many ages. But although the balm of Gilead is well known from several scriptural allusions, and highly esteemed, it is only of secondary quality to the balsam of Mecca, for which it is frequently substituted; and illustrations of its nature and properties must chiefly be derived from the latter. This balsam is a resinous matter, exuding, like ordinary resin, from incisions in the bark of two different vegetables; at least there are apparently two, though the distinction is not well characterized or described by naturalists, which circumstance has excited conjectures that there is only one, and that it is subject to certain external modifications from soil and climate. The plant producing the balsam of Mecca was first ascertained by Forskal to belong to the genus Amyris. He transmitted one or two specimens to Linnaeus, who has characterized it as the “Amyris Opobalsamum, leaves pinnate, with sessile leaflets, a native of Arabia while he characterizes the other as “Amyris Gi-leadensis, leaves ternate, very entire peduncles, one flowered lateral, a native of Abyssinia.” We shall, however, consider it more in detail. This plant grows to the height of fourteen feet, flourishingin a hot climate,and in a stony barren soil. In general it is lower; and Mr Bruce describes a specimen five feet and a half in height, and five inches across the stem where thickest. The wood is white, light, and of open texture, covered with a smooth bark, reddish or bluish white, resembling that of a healthy standard cherry-tree, green within, and emitting a very fragrant odour; that of the branches, which are very flexible and resinous, being equally agreeable. The leaves, which are evergreen and scanty, bear some resemblance to those of rue; and the flowers, which are leguminous and of a purplish colour, resemble those of the acacia. The fruit consists of small pointed ovoidal berries, containing a yellowish fluid similar to honey, of a bitterish taste, and exhaling a pleasant perfume, approaching the odour of balm. This plant is called Palessan in the East; but it would require new botanical researches to ascertain definitely, and beyond dispute, whether it is of different species, as is most probable, and what is its real character; —points which we must consider as remaining to be established.

It has been maintained that the plants producing the balsam of Mecca are restricted to a plantation of little more than thirty acres in extent, at Beder Hunein, a station for pilgrims in Arabia, half-way between Mecca and Medina. Yet it cannot be positively affirmed that this is one distinct species; that Abyssinia, the country ascribed to the other, is deprived of it; or that the balm of Gilead grows exclusively in Abyssinia. These are facts which require elucidation from future botanical researches. The plantation belongs to a noble family of Arabs, of the tribe Beni Koreish, from which Mahommed originated, unless the incursions of the Wahabees, who interrupted the wonted pilgrimages, have dispossessed them.

The balsam in question flows from incisions in the tree, which are made with an axe, in July, August, and the beginning of September, when the circulation of the sap is in the greatest activity; and it is received into a small earthen bottle. Each day’s produce is collected, and poured into one of larger dimensions; but the quantity obtained is very small, and its collection is tedious and troublesome; for the total exudation is usually but three or four drops in a day, nor does the most productive tree afford above sixty. Its scarcity, therefore, and the difficulty of procuring it, have no inconsiderable effect in enhancing its value. The odour is at first strong and pungent, occa sioning a sensation like that of volatile salts rashly i∏. haled. Its intensity is proportioned to its freshness and the care it receives; for if neglected and exposed to the influence of the air, the fragrance entirely decays. It is also of a rough, acrid, pungent taste. Originally the balsam is of a light yellow colour, somewhat turbid, and of a whitish cast, which is supposed to arise from the globules of air absorbed along with it; and it dissolves readily in water. It then acquires greater consistence, resembling honey, and becomes pellucid; and after the lapse of some years grows of deeper yellow, or gold colour, when it is very tenacious, and may be drawn out in threads. It is difficult, however, to obtain the balsam in astate of purity; for several different substances are employed in its adulteration, to detect which various experiments are resorted to. If dropped into a glass of clean water, it falls to the bottom without rising again to the surface; or if it remain still on the surface, like oil in a drop, it is certainly adulterated. If, on the contrary, it spreads on the surface of the water, diffusing itself in a thin pellicle, scarcely visible to the eye, and capable of being collected with a thread or a feather, it is the pure and natural product. In this state it will coagulate like milk, but not if otherwise. If pure it collects in a globule when dropped on hot iron; if adulterated, it runs and spreads itself all around. The different substances used in the adulteration of this balsam are honey, wax, oil of sesamum, turpentine, and ostrich fat. Sweetness of taste betrays the honey, and a turbid appearance the presence of wax. Adulteration with oil is detected by its yielding a darker and grosser flame than that which issues from the genuine balsam when dropped on burning coals. When the consistency becomes too great, which seems a consequence of age and long preservation, fluidity is restored by the simple application of heat.

Besides the balsam now described, which is the purest and most valuable kind, and is called Opobalsamum, other two of inferior quality are obtained from the balessan; first, Carpobalsamum, which is prepared by expression from the fruit when it has attained maturity, and which, if good, should be ponderous, of a pungent taste and balsamic odour; secondly, Xylobalsamum, which is elaborated from a decoction of the twigs. The latter are collected in small faggots and sent to Venice, and the circumstance which determines them to be the shoots of the year is said to consist in their being knotty, the bark red, and the wood white, resinous, and exhaling balsamic odour. Various impostures are likewise practised here, in substituting spurious compounds for the real drug; and the ingenuity of mankind in this species of deception has been carried to such an extent that detection proves extremely difficult.

Numerous virtues are ascribed to the balm of Gilead,— so numerous, that modern empirics, availing themselves of that credulity which characterizes our nature in all matters connected with health, do not hesitate to offer specifics of their own invention, under the same name, with bold asseverations that the human race will there find a palliative for most of the evils with which they are afflicted. Prosper Alpinus, one of the older naturalists, ascribes many properties to the balsam of Mecca, esteemed the most precious of all that bear the appellation of balsam,and in ordinary description considered as synonymous with the balm of Gilead; and the modern Arabs, Turks, and Egyptians, entertain great confidence in its efficacy. It is a powerful vulnerary, a quality of which Mahomet took advantage; for he affirmed that a grove of the trees sprung up from the blood of his own . tribe killed in battle, the juice of which cured the wounds of the faithful, however deadly, nay, that it recovered some of them from death itself. Hasselquist says it is useful as a stomachic [7:4:323]in doses of three grains. It is also taken for complaints in the breast, and in fevers, and is applied for rheumatism. Its repute as an antiseptic is very great; and it is esteemed so effectual an antidote against the plague, that when this distemper makes its appearance the Egyptians take a certain quantity daily. The balsam of Mecca, however, is principally used as a cosmetic by the eastern females of rank. After being kept in a very warm bath, the face and breast are anointed with it; and the same process is continued every third day during a month. Oil of almonds and other cosmetics are then rubbed over the same parts, by which means the skin and complexion are beautifully renovated. Lady Mary Wortley Montague relates that she was induced to try the experiment; and that, in consequence, her face became swelled and red for three days, during which time she suffered so much pain as to restrain her from repeating the application. But her complexion was greatly improved; and she adds, that the ladies of Constantinople, by whom it is used, have the finest bloom imaginable.

The balm of Gilead has been celebrated from a very remote antiquity. We have the testimony of Moses that it was an article of commerce in the earlier periods of Jewish history; for at the time Joseph was confined by his brethren in a pit, and during their deliberations on his fate, it is said, “And they sat down to eat bread,—and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.” Jeremiah particularly alludes to the virtues of the balm in Gilead. Josephus, however, does not carry the knowledge of it so high; for he observes, that the queen of Sheba or Saba, “who was inquisitive into philosophy, and on that and other accounts was also to be admired,” brought the balm of Gilead as a present to Solomon, on her visit to Jerusalem, about a thousand years before the Christian era. “They say also that we possess the root of this balsam, which our country still bears, from that woman’s gift.” This is not inconsistent with the words of Jeremiah, who probably flourished about four thousand years later; and to reconcile the statement of Moses with this account, some critics have supposed that Judea did not possess the real balm of Gilead earlier than the queen of Sheba’s gift, but an inferior kind of balsam ;—a fact not improbable. Further, it appears, that what was in highest esteem as the balm of Gilead, was in truth the balsam of Mecca. The best testimony of its value is its having been the subject of royal donation among the rarities brought for the acceptance of so illustrious a prince as Solomon. It appears from the writings of the ancients who were contemporary with Josephus, that Judea was generally believed to be exclusively possessed of this product. Pliny remarks,—“but to all other odours whatsoever is to be preferred that balsam which is produced in no other part of the world than the land of Judea, and there in two gardens only, both belonging to the king, one not exceeding twenty acres in size, and the second still smaller.” Strabo, however, m the opinion of Mr Bruce, ascertained the real spot where the balsam originated, in ascribing it to that country over or near to which the queen of Sheba reigned. “Near to this,” he says, “is the most favoured land of the Sabaeans, and they are a very great people. Frankincense, myrrh, and cinnamon, grow among them, and on ffie coast that is about Saba, the balsam also.” Whence Mr Bruce observes, that “among the myrrh-trees behind Asab, all along the coast to the Straits of Babelmandel, is its native country. It grows to a tree above fourteen θet high spontaneously and without culture, like the ŋiyrrh, the coffee, and the frankincense tree; they are all equally the wood of the country, and occasionally cut down for fuel.” Diodorus Siculus likewise affirms that this balsam grew in a valley of Arabia Felix. But Mr Bruce, who investigated the subject with considerable care, supposes that it was towards the era of Pliny that it received its name of Balsamum Judaicum, or balm of Gilead, and thence became an article of commerce and fiscal revenue, which might probably operate as a discouragement to bringing it from Arabia; as also that it might be prohibited as contraband. Some centuries later, than the time of those ancient authors, we see that it was known in Arabia, and perhaps in the place now most celebrated for it. A traveller who assumes the name of Ali Bey says that there is no balsam made at Mecca; that, on the contrary, it is very scarce, and is obtained principally in the territory of Medina; and also that it was called belsan. As the repute of the balsam of Mecca rose, the balm of Gilead disappeared; though in the era of Galen, who flourished in the second century, and travelled into Syria and Palestine purposely to obtain a knowledge of this substance, it grew in Jericho, and many other parts of the Holy Land. The cause of its total decay has been ascribed, not without reason, to the royal attention being withdrawn from it by the distractions of the country. In more recent times its naturalization seems to have been attempted in Egypt; for Prosper Alpinus relates, that forty plants were brought from Arabia by a governor of Cairo, to the garden there, and ten remained when Belon travelled in Egypt, nearly 250 years ago; but whether from not agreeing with the African soil or otherwise, only one existed in the last century, and now there appears to be none.

The balsam of Mecca has always been deemed a substance of the greatest value. When Selim, emperor of the Turks, reduced Arabia and Egypt under his dominion in the year 1516, he exacted a tribute of three pounds weight of it yearly; which continues to be sent to Constantinople to this day. Besides this, part of the governor of Cairo’s appointments include a right to receive a pound of balsam; the like quantity was due to an officer who conducted the caravan of pilgrims to Mecca, and half a pound to the pasha of Damascus, who superintends the whole pilgrimage.

Notwithstanding the celebrity of this plant, Mr Bruce denies that it had ever been seen by the ancients, by whom he probably means the Romans, as their descriptions are so various and discordant. Prosper Alpinus, who lived in the sixteenth century, does not seem to know the real class to which it belongs; and even within these few years Μ. Duplessy, who has paid much attention to the exudations of vegetables, is apparently not aware of its having been figured by Bruce, and also more recently by Dr Woodville. Such uncertainties of old excited a violent dispute between the inhabitants of Rome and Venice whether the drug used in medicinal compounds was truly the balm of Gilead; and the point being referred to the pope, his holiness directed that information should be obtained from Egypt, in consequence of which he decided in favour of the Venetians.

The balsam of Mecca is not the only one possessing exclusive medicinal properties, though it is, perhaps, more eminently distinguished for them. Sixteen balsamic plants of the same genus are enumerated by botanists, each exhibiting some peculiarity; and the balsam of Tolu, obtained from incisions on a shrub growing in some of the South American provinces, is thought to approach the nearest to the virtues of this famous balm. It is highly aromatic, a powerful antiseptic, and not less efficacious as a vulnerary. It is also very rare and difficult to be procured, which has induced impostors to offer adulterations [7:4:324]or counterfeits under its name. That which is particularly substituted is the balsam of Peru, the product of another tree, which can be obtained in abundance either from incisions or decoction of the different parts. The secretions of these plants, however, are neither invariably odoriferous nor salutary: the balsam of Carthagena exhales a penetrating disagreeable smell; and there is a low evergreen shrub, a native of North Carolina and the Bahama Islands, producing a fruit which is deadly poison, and a balsam as black as ink.