Fee, Cours d'Histoire Nat Pharm. t.1. p. 641.

Sp. - B. Myrrha. Nees von Essenbeck.

Cl. Octandria. Ord. Monogynia, Linn. Nat. ord. Burseraceae.

Officinal. Myrrha.2 Lond. Edin. Dub. Myrrh, a gum-resin.

Syn. Myrrhe (F.), Myrrhen (G.), Mirra (I.), Mirra (S.), Murra (Russ.), Murr. (Arab.), Bol(H.), Heera bol(Duk), Vola (San.), Valatipolum (Tarn.), Manisan lebah (Malay), Madu (Jav.), Palendra bolum (Tam.).

The tree or plant which produces this gum-resin is a native of the borders of Arabia Felix, in the province of Gison. It remained long undescribed by naturalists; and the conjectures of Mr. Bruce in favour of its being a mimosa, were by no means satisfactory.3 At length, however, it has been described by Nees von Essenbeck, on the authority of Ehrenberg, who has seen the mrryh collected from the bark. It is a small tree with a stunted trunk, with whitish gray bark, and rough abortive branches terminating in spines. The leaves are ternate, the leaflets obovate, blunt, obtusely toothed, the terminal one being largest. The fruit is oval, longitudinally furrowed, of a brown colour, and surrounded at the base by the persistent calyx. The juice exudes spontaneously, and concretes upon the bark.4 *

1 The following is the simplest mode of making gruel: - Put three ounces of grits which have been washed into four pints of water, and boil slowly until the water be reduced one half; then strain through a sieve, to separate the undissolved part of the grits from the gruel.

Dioscoridis. The name used by Hippocrates, is derived from an ointment. Professor Verey (Journ. de Pharm. 1820) derives it from the Phoenician word mor or mur. Myrrha, the daughter of Cinyras, king of Phoenicia, was metamorphosed into a tree, for being criminally in love with her father.

3 Phil. Trans. lxv. 413.

4 Fee Cours d'Hist. Nat. Pharm. 1. p. 641.

It exudes at first oily, then thickens, and from a yellowish-white colour gradually assumes a golden hue, and becomes red when dry. It is imported in chests, each containing from one to two hundred weight. Two kinds are found in the market, namely, the Abyssinian myrrh, which comes to us through the East Indies, and that produced in Arabia, which is brought by the way of Turkey.

Qualities. - Myrrh has a peculiar, rather fragrant odour, augmented when it is powdered, and a bitter aromatic taste. It softens in the mouth, adheres to the teeth when chewed, and is in small, irregularly shaped pieces, which can scarcely be called tears: they are translucent, of a reddish-yellow colour, brittle, breaking with a resinous fracture, and easily pulverized. It does not melt when heated, and is not very inflammable. Its specific gravity is l.360.1 Such are the characters of good Turkey myrrh : but the East Indian is often opaque, mixed with many impurities2, and either white or of a dark colour, approaching nearly to black, with a disagreeable odour, in which case it should be rejected. This description appears to be the produce of old trees.

Myrrh is partially soluble in water, alcohol, and ether. In distillation with water, it yields an oil heavier than water. When it is triturated with very soft or distilled water, nearly the whole appears to be dissolved, forming an opaque, yellowish solution; but the greater part is deposited by rest, and not more than one third of the gum-resin is actually dissolved. The alcoholic tincture is rendered milky and opaque when mixed with water, but no precipitate appears. Braconnot asserts that 100 parts of myrrh consist of 23 of resin and 77 of gum; but my experiments lead to a somewhat different conclusion, and accord more with those of Pelletier, who found the proportions to be, 34.68 of resin and 65.32 of gum. Ether, digested on powdered myrrh, dissolved three parts in eight; and the tincture, evaporated on water, deposited two grains and a half of very bitter resin, and half a grain of extractive matter, which also tasted bitter. The part insoluble in the ether, was nearly all soluble in water, and afforded a solution resembling that of acacia gum; but differed from it in being precipitated by solutions of bichloride of mercury and of acetate of lead. Myrrh triturated with crystallized carbonate of alkalies is reduced to the form of a tenacious fluid.

When treated with nitric acid it yields oxalic acid. Hence myrrh seems to consist of resin, essential oil, extractive, and mucus, rather than gum. Brandes obtained from 502 parts of good myrrh 13 of volatile oil, 111.2 of balsamic resin, 27.8 of a resinoid soluble in alcohol, 271 of gummy matter, 3 of vegeto-animal matter, 3.71 of salts of potassa and of lime, 8 of foreign admixtures, and 17.8 of water. The volatile oil is heavier than water.

1 Annates de Chimie, lxviii. 52.

2 These are sometimes salt; and as salt is a production of the soil in Abyssinia, this is readily accounted for by the myrrh dropping on the ground.

Medical properties and uses. - Myrrh is tonic and expectorant. In moderate doses it stimulates the stomach, promoting the appetite and digestion; but, in larger doses, increases the frequency of the pulse and augments the general heat of the body.1 As a tonic, it is efficaciously given in cases of debility2; as amenorrhoea, chlorosis, and convalsecences; and in phthisis pulmonalis, when the inflammatory symptoms and hectic fever do not run high. Its use in phthisis has, indeed, been condemned by several physicians of great repute3; but when there is an evident ulceration of the lungs without much hectic, and the patient's strength is considerably reduced by the quantity of the expectorated matter, the proper exhibition of myrrh may be certainly productive of benefit. In the first-mentioned diseases, it is advantageously combined with aloes, cinchona, or other bitters and chalybeates; and in phthisis, with nitre, digitalis, opium, camphor, and the sulphate of iron or of zinc. Combined with oxide of zinc, it has been found extremely useful in the peculiar cough which sometimes accompanies pregnancy, and continues after abortion.

As an expectorant, it is often employed in humoral asthma and chronic catarrh; and with the same view also has been given in phthisical affections: but as it cannot be employed with propriety in pulmonic cases, where there is much inflammatory action or hectic present, any advantage derived from its use in phthisis probably depends altogether on its tonic operation counteracting the exhaustion which is produced by a copious purulent expectoration. As a local stimulant, the alcoholic solution of myrrh diffused in water is used as a lotion in a spongy state of the gums, and for correcting the foetid discharge of vitiated ulcers, particularly when connected with caries of the bone; and as a gargle in cynanche maligna.

1 Cullen, Mat. Med. ii. 123.

2 It was formerly used for the cure of quartans; 3j. in a glass of warm Cretan wine being given an hour before the paroxysm, and thrice repeated before the accession. Mathiolus, cap 67., says, " Hoc medicamento ego ipse curatus sum." 3 Cullen. Fothergill.

Myrrh is administered in substance, or in the form of watery infusion, or of tincture properly diluted. The watery infusion is much less stimulant than any of the other preparations. A watery extract is ordered in some foreign pharmacopoeias, and preferred by many physicians, from an idea that it is less heating than the gum-resin; but it is equally bitter, and is perhaps not different from a diminished dose of the myrrh.

Officinal preparations.- Tinctura Myrrhae, L. E. D. Tirwtura Aloes composita, L. Tinctura Aloes et Myrrhae, E. Tinct. Aloes Aetheria, E. Mistura Ferri comp., L. Pilulae Aloes cum Myrrha, L. E. D. Pilulae Ferri compositae, L. Pil. Galbani comp., L. D. Pil Assafoetidae comp., E. Pil. Rhei composita, L. E.