This tree was first brought into Europe, from the northern parts of Asia, about the year 1550; and its growth is so rapid, that trees, raised from nuts, have, in twelve or fourteen years, attained nearly their full dimensions. It is further remarkable, in the growth of the horse-chesnut tree, that the whole of the spring shoots are said to be completed in little more than three weeks from the first opening of the buds.
CLASS VIII.—OCTANDRIA.
MONOGYNIA.
118. BALSAM, or BALM OF GILEAD, is the dried juice of a low tree or shrub (Amyris gileadensis), which grows in several parts of Abyssinia and Syria.
This tree has spreading crooked branches, small bright green leaves, growing in threes, and small white flowers on separate footstalks. The petals are four in number, and the fruit is a small egg-shaped berry, containing a smooth nut.
By the inhabitants of Syria and Egypt, this balsam, as it appears from the authority of the Scriptures, was in great esteem in the highest periods of antiquity. We are informed by Josephus, the Jewish historian, that the balsam of Gilead was one of the trees which was given by the Queen of Saba to King Solomon. Those Ishmaelitish merchants, who were the purchasers of Joseph, are said to have been travelling from Gilead, on the eastern side of Canaan, to Egypt, having their camels laden with "spicery, balm, and myrrh." It was then, and it still is, considered one of the most valuable medicines that the inhabitants of those countries possessed. The virtues, however, which have been ascribed to it, exceed all rational bounds of credibility.
The mode in which it is obtained is described by Mr. Bruce. He says that the bark of the trees is cut, for this purpose, with an axe, at a time when the juices are in their strongest circulation. These, as they ooze through the wound, are received into small earthen bottles; and every day's produce is gathered, and poured into a larger bottle, which is closely corked. When the juice first issues from the wound, it is of light yellow colour, and somewhat turbid appearance; but, as it settles, it becomes clear, has the colour of honey, and appears more fixed and heavy than at first. Its smell, when fresh, is exquisitely fragrant, and strongly pungent, not much unlike that of volatile salts; but, if the bottle be left uncorked, it soon loses this quality. Its taste is bitter, acrid, aromatic, and astringent.
The quantity of balsam yielded by one tree never exceeds sixty drops in a day. Hence its scarcity is such that the genuine balsam is seldom exported as an article of commerce. Even at Constantinople, the centre of trade of those countries, it cannot, without great difficulty, be procured. In Turkey it is in high esteem as a medicine, an odoriferous unguent, and a cosmetic. But its stimulating properties upon the skin are such that the face of a person unaccustomed to use it becomes red and swollen, and continues so for some days afterward. The Turks also take it in small quantities, in water, to fortify the stomach, and excite the animal faculties.