B A L
B A L
interpreted to denote any rcfinous kind of gum. Some have imagined it the fame with our balfam of Mecca, which they hence a]fo denominate balm ofGilead ; but of this there is fmall probability. Dr. Prideaux takes the ancient balm ofGilead to have been only a better fort of turpentine than that commonly then in ufe for the cure of wounds, &c. Vid. Connect. Hift. Old and New left. P. 2. 1. 6. p. 6ig, feq.
EALNEARII Strvi, in antiquity, fervants or attendants belong- ing to the baths.
Some were appointed to heat them, cdMe&fmwcateres *, others ■were denominated capfarii, who kept the cloaths of thofe that went into them ; others alipta, whofe care it was to pull oft the hair ; others unduarii, who anointed and perfumed the body. Dar.ei, Diet Ant. in voc.
Balnearius Fur, in antiquity, a kind of thief who practifed Sealing the cloaths of perfons in the baths; fometimes alfo called fur balnearum.
The crime of thofe thieves was a kind of facrilege ; for the hot baths were facred : hence they were more feverely punifhed than common thieves, who ftole out of private houfes . The latter were acquitted with paying double the value of the thing ftolen ; whereas the former were punifhed with death. Thefe balmarii fares are represented as infinitely adroit and fubtle: to guard againft them, there were a kind of fervants called capfarii, who made it their bufinefs, for a fmall fee, to watch the cloaths of thofe who went to bathe. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. r. p. 248.
BALNEUM, (Cycl.)— Balneum Roris, or Roritum, is a fur- nace whereon the cucurbit, or diftilling veffel, is only fuf- pended over the vapour of water, and not in contact with the water itfelf. Le Mart. Colled. Chym. Leid. Prol. 2. c. 2. Ruland. p. 99. Eocrb. Chcm. P. 2. This is alfo denominated Balneum vaporarium, or a vapor hath.
Ba [.neum Ventris Equini, or a horfe-dung bath, is when a body is laid to digeft in horfe-dung, the heat whereof is managed by the affufion of hot water. Boerb. I.e.
Balneum Fceni, a hay bath, is when a body is laid to digeft in moift hav, whofe heat is likewife directed by the application of water. Id. ibid.
Balneum Minerale, or mineral bath, is ufed by fome che- mifts for aqua regia. Le Mart. Collect. Chym. Leid. c. 64.
BALONICII, in the Materia Medica of the ancients, a name given by Avifenna, Averroes, and others, to a kind of cam- phor, which they defcribe as coarfe, brown, and of lefs value than the other 'forts. This is probably the fame with our roueh camphire, as brought over to us from the Eaft Indies.
BALSAM, (Cycl.)—' The true origin of this fubftance is, that the native oil of the bark of trees is at firft liquid ; but after it has been fome time formed, it becomes gradually infpiflated by the fun's heat, and appears in the form and thicknefs of a balfam. By a ftill longer continuance, and more intenfe heat, it grows yet thicker, and becomes a kind of ferni-rcfm, and, after a longer time, atruerefm; which, from this origin, be- ing more exhaufted of its acid fpirit, will wholly burn away in the fire, will liquify in the fame, diflblve and mix with oil, obftinately refufe to mix with water, harden in the cold, and then lay afide its tenacity, and become friable. Boerb. Chcm. p. 1.4^. Mem. Acad. Scienc. 1721.
Dr. Grew fays, that balfams are properly the juices of the roots ; for though they be alfo procurable from other parts of plants, it is the root that ufually yields the pureft, as well as the greateft quantity of balfam. Vid. Grew, Anat.Veget. 1. 2. c. 3. §. 21. Natural balfams bear fo near an affinity to turpentine, in their aromatic, cleaufing, and detergent qualities, that fome will have them only fo many fpecics of turpentines. Vid. ^uincy, Difpenf. P. 2. §.40-
Balfams are of great fervice in medicine and furgery. To ufe them, they are ufually liquified with fpirit of wine, or oil, and fometimes mixed up with the yolk of an egg. The misfortune is, there is no vehicle found to carry balfams effectually into the lungs; what is taken into the ftomar-h, mull firft pafs the heart; and as to what is anointed on the breaft and ftomach, it will be taken up by the veins, and ab- forbent vefiels, and carried into the ordinary courfe of circula- tion. Mr. Leewenhoeck propofes a new method of applica- tion ; which fee under the article Balsamics. Phil. Tranf. N° 279. p. 1 144.
The True Balsam, Balfamum verum, diftills from a final! tree or fhrub, called by the antient Arabian phyficians balfqm, and by the Grecians ficti&afMt. This is alfo called by divers other de- nominations, as balm ofGilead, of the Levant, of Mecca, bal- famum Gileade.'ife, Orientale, de Mecca, Arabicum, fudaicum, JEgypiiacum, Syriacum, Antiquarian, &c. Burggr. Lex. Med. p. 1 426, feq.
The plant from which it diftills, is a fhrub which grows not higher than two or three cubits. A foot from the ground, it fpreads into a number of fmall branches, no bigger than a goofe's quill. Intifions being made in thefe, in June, July, and Auguft, the balm trickles out. The incifions are ufually made with glafs, a knife, or fharp (lone. If made with iron, it has been faid, that the tree prefently dies ; which only holds when the incifions are made too deep. Vid. Ray, Hift. Plant. I. 31. c. 23. Profp. Alpin. de Plant. ./Egypt, c. 14. p. 48.
Worm. Muf. p. 223. Slevogt. DifT. de Gpobalf. c. 2. §. 7; Wedel. Diff. de Terebinth, c. 1. p. 9.
Pliny tells us, that the balfam tree was no where to be found but in Judea, and there only in two gardens a . But now ./Egypt produces it, and Judea has loft it. Profpcr Alpinus allures us, that neither Judea nor Egypt is the natural country of the balfam tree, but Arabia Felix, as it grows naturally here, but never in Egypt or Judea, but as it is cultivated in gardens b : and that, in Egypt, the beft cultivation cannot keep it from decay ; fo that they are forced frequently to fend for new plants from Arabia c . — [ a Plin. Hift. Nat. 1. 1 2. c. 25; b Vid. SalmafExerc. ad Solin. T. 1. p. 579, & p. 591. Sal- muib. ad Pancirol. P. 1. tit.12. p. 3 2, 'feq. c Prideaux, Con- nect. P. 2. 1. 6. p, 617, feq. Burggr. Lex. Med. 1434, feq. Cluf. Exot. I. 10. c. 9. Alpin. de Plant. Egypt, c. 14. p. 49. Id. inDial.de Balfam. c. 2. p. 8.]
When firft gathered, it is thin and light, fo as to fwim in wa- ter; when old, it grows thick, hard, and heavy ; fo that if dropped into water or milk, it prefently finks. It is faid to relieve inward decays, bruifes, and fores ; open obftnictions of the lungs ; heal erofions from acrimony, and the worft kind of ulcerations; to be excellent in afrhmas and pleurifies, and whatever requires expectoration. It is alfo ap- plied externally as a detergent and incarnative. Vid. ^uincy 9 Pharm. P. 2.'§. 285.
The balfam brought to us, comes chiefly from Egypt ; not that it is the produce of that country, the greater part being brought from Mecca to Alexandria, by the caravans of Mahometan pil- grims, who travel yearly, out of devotion, to the birth-place of their prophet. And from Alexandria it is brought hither, whence the denomination balfamum e Mecca, and Mgyptiacum. Of late, the Eaft India Company have alfo imported it directly from Arabia, by the way of the Red fea.
For the appellation, balm ofGilead, it is given it on a fuppofi- tion, that the balm mentioned in Scripture to come from Gi- lead, was the fame with that of Mecca ; of which, we have al- ready obferved, there is little probability. See Balm. The adulterated is known by fwimming on water like oil, and ihooting out ftreaks like a ftar; it alfo leaves a ftain in wool- len, which the genuine does not, but wafhes clean away. Al- pin. Dial, de Balfam. c. 3. p. 21. 24. Id. c. 5. p. 37. Another mark of the purity of the balfam is, when a drop of it, let fall on red hot iron, gathers itfelf into a globule; where- as oil, or fpurioas balfam, runs and fheds all around. To men- tion no more, the genuine balfam feels vifcid, and adhefive to the fingers, which the adulterated does not. If fophifticated with wax, it is difcovered by the turbid colour, never to be clarified ; if, with honey, the fweet tafte betrays it ; if with refins, dropping it on coals, it yields a blacker fiame, and of a grofler fubftance, than the genuine.
The pure was fold in the country where it was produced, for double its weight in filver ; at leaft this was the antient price in the days of Theophraftus and Diofcorides e . — [ d Hift. Plant. 1. 9. c. 6. e L. 1. c. 18.]
The fcarcity of the true balm, and the frequent adulterations of it, have led fome to rank it in the number of loft things ; and others to hold, that, at leaft, it is no longer imported into thefe countries. Peter Martyr, and, after him, Cardan, allure us, that the balfam fhrubs were all extinct. Vid. Card, de Subtil. 1, tf. p. 249.
Others infer, from a pafTagc in Pliny, Savierefudai in earn (ar- bufcuIam)y7(Ttt/ in vita?n quoque fuam, contra clef en dere Romani, IS dimicatum fro frutice ejl '■ ', that thejews had deftroyedall the balfam trees in Judea, and that thus the juice was loft. But Razivil s, Scaliger h , Clufius, and others, effectually refute thefe fuggef- tions. The point was hotly difputed at Rome in 1639, on occafion of fome druggifts of that city, who had procured a quantity of the balfam to be ufed in making the theriaca ; their pretenfion being called in queftion by others of thepro- feflion, pope Urban VIII, aflifted by cardinal Barhcrini, Thad. Collicula, his firft phyfician, and J. Ubaldini, chief phyfician of the city, took cognizance of this matter ; and, after a full examination of what was alleged on either fide, pronounced the balfam was true. — [ f Hift. Nat. 1. 12. c. 25. E Hierozol. Peragr. p. 177. h Exerc. 157. §. 1. Burggr. p. 1427^ feq,] Fr. Perla, a Roman phyfician, wrote the hiftory of the contro- verfy; andVolcamer has collected all the pieces written on either fide the queftion, under the title of Opobalfami orientaiis in the- riaces confecliane Ramx vocati, dcSliorumque calculis approbati finceritas. Norimb. 1644. i2 y . an extract of it is given by Burggr. in Lex. Med. Univ. p. 1429, feq- Balsam of Copaiba, is an oily, refmous liquor, at firft limpid, like diftilled oil of turpentine, but afterwards growing thicker, and from a white colour turning yellowifh, of a fubacrid bit- terifh tafte, a brifk refmous terebinthinous fmell, gathered from a tree of the fame name growing in Brazil. Burggr. Lex. Med. p. i4-;7.
It was at firft called, by reafon of its clearnefs, oil of copaiba ; by the Americans, fometimes colocai ■> by the Portuguefe, ca- melo; by the French, copaif, and camtwlf; among us, ufually capivi; among foreign writers, we alfo find it denominated co- pal ibe, copaliva, copaiva, and capayva.
Many of the Americans call all odoriferous refins, and fweet
fsented
