Balsam of Tolu

“ Mompox is about seven leagues above the confluence of the rivers Magdalena and Cauca.
Tolu, a small sea-port town, having a convenient harbour on the Spanish main, or gulf of Uraba, in 9° 32ʹ north latitude, 75° 30ʹ west longitude. In the environs of this town are found the trees which produce the balsam of Tolu, so excellent in pectoral complaints. Tolu is fifty miles south of Carthagena. ”

“ Its color varies from honey-yellow to reddish-brown; the taste is at first sweet, then sharp, it softens under the heat of the hand, and when warmed or sprinkled in powder form on glowing coals it diffuses a very pleasant odor recalling that of Peru balsam or vanilla. It shares with storax and Peru balsam the valuable property of fixing volatile odors and is often employed for this purpose, but is also frequently used alone in fumigating powders, tooth powders, etc. Adulteration of Tolu balsam with Venice turpentine or colophony is not rarely met with.
Tonka Beans. ”

“ Balsam of Tolu. Qualities. Form, a thick tenacious liquid becoming concrete by age, in which state it is usually found in the shops. Taste, warm and sweetish. Odour, extremely fragrant, resembling that of lemons. Chemical Composition. Volatile oil, resin, and benzoic acid. Solubility. It is soluble in alcohol, forming a tincture which is rendered milky by water, but no precipitate falls. When dissolved in the smallest quantity of a solution of potass, its odour is changed into one that resembles clove pink. Medicinal Uses. It has been regarded as expectorant. ”

“ It forms a colorless, limp oil, boils, according to Deville, at 338° F., and according to E. Kopp, at between 309° and 320° F., and has a specific gravity of 0.858. It has a sharp, pungent, pepper-like taste, and an odor resembling that of elemi. In the air, it is gradually converted by oxidation into a soft resin, without, however, becoming colored.
On boiling Tolu balsam with water, cinnamic and benzoic acids are separated from the solution. When treated with potash lye the resinous acids are fixed, and the toluene floats upon the fluid. ”

“ The name of this balsam has been obtained from its being chiefly procured from the province of Tolu, on the north coast of South America, near the isthmus of Panama. Incisions are made in the bark of the trees, at a particular season of the year, and a resinous fluid of yellowish white colour oozes out. This is collected in small gourd shells. At first it is about the consistence of treacle, but it thickens by being kept; and by age it becomes hard and brittle. Its smell is peculiarly grateful, somewhat resembling that of lemons ”

“ Peruvian Balsam. Qualities. Form, a viscid liquid of a reddish brown colour. Odour, fragrant and aromatic. Taste, hot and bitter. Chemical Composition. Resin, volatile oil, and benzoic acid; it is therefore a true balsam: this term was formerly applied to every vegetable resin having a strong scent and the fluidity of treacle, and which was supposed to possess many medicinal virtues; it is now restricted to those resins which contain the benzoic acid in their composition, of which there are only three, viz. the Balsams of Peru, Tolu, and Benzoin. ”

“ A great variety of substances pass under this name, but the term is now usually restricted to resins which, in addition to a volatile oil, contain benzoic and cinnamic acid. Among the true balsams are the balm of Gilead, and the balsams of copaiba, Peru, and Tolu. There are also many pharmaceutical preparations and resinous substances, possessed of a balsamic smell, to which the name balsam has been given.
2. (Bot.) (a) A species of tree (Abies balsamea) . (b) An annual garden plant (Impatiens balsamina) with beautiful flowers; balsamine.
3. Anything that heals, soothes, or restores. ”

“ Tolok, bambu baskets with lids fitting to them, for the purpose of carrying any goods with greater safety. Two such Toloks are generally carried by one man, one at each end of a stick laid across the shoulders.
Tolu, three, more frequently Tilu, but Tolu is in constant use at Jasinga. To-lu is probably To-ru, not of one appearance, disparity, as two was expressed by Rua = parity. In many of the languages of Polynesia three is expressed by Talu, Télu or Tolu, all having evidently the same meaning. Oru occurs at Saparua, Toru at the Marquesas, and Kolu at the Sandwich Islands. ”

“ As adulterants, are used: Alcohol, volatile oils, fat oil, especially castor oil; further, copaiba balsam, Canada balsam, gurjun balsam, storax, benzoin, and asphaltum. The establishment of these adulterants is connected with difficulties; but the properties of Peru balsam are so characteristic that it is quite easy to detect whether it is genuine and pure, or not, the specific gravity and proportions of solubility deserving especial attention in this respect. ”

“ The third was Xylo-balsamum, the worst of all, it was an expression or decoction of the small new twigs of a reddish colour. These twigs are still gathered in little faggots and sent to Venice, where I am told they are an ingredient in the Theriac, or of some sort of compound drug made in the laboratories there: But the principal quantity of balsam in all times was produced by incision, as it is at this day. Concerning this, too, many fables have been invented and propagated. ”

“ In front of the city of Miser, which the Christians call Cair, there is a garden where balsam grows; it grows there only, and in India. The king-sultan enjoys a large income from this balsam. The Infidels often adulterate it, and merchants and druggists also mix it, and this they do that they may make more profit. (23) Genuine balsam is pure and clear, and has a pleasant taste, and is yellow; but when it is thick and red, it is not genuine. Take a drop of balsam in the hand, and expose it to the sun; if it is good, you cannot keep it long in the sun, because you feel the great heat. ”

“ The Indians used it for swellings in any part of the body and also for toothache. “Caranna,” another gum brought from Nombre de Dios, is discovered to be of sovereign virtue for gout—“it taketh it awaie with muche easines.” The balsam of the New World, “that licour most excellent whiche for his Excellencie and meruerlous effectes is called Balsamo, an imitation of the true Balsamo that was in the lande of Egipt,” is “made of a tree greater than a Powndgarned Tree, it carrieth leaues like to Nettles: the Indians doe call it Xilo and we do call the same [Pg 125] Balsamo.” ”

“ The simple balsam was made by boiling one pound of flowers of sulphur with four times its weight of olive oil until the sulphur was dissolved and a thick dark balsamic substance was obtained. This was the formula of the P.L. 1746. But linseed oil and walnut oil were often prescribed in preference to olive oil, and oil of anise, oil of amber, oil of juniper, white wine, Barbadoes tar, turpentine, myrrh, aloes, and saffron; one or more of these substances were combined with the balsam in other receipts. ”

“ Storax and Tolu are used in perfumery in the same way as benzoin, namely, by solution in spirit as a tincture. An ounce of tincture of storax, tolu, or benzoin, being added to a pound of any very volatile perfume, gives a degree of permanence to it, and makes it last longer on the handkerchief than it otherwise would: thus, when any perfume is made by the solution of an otto in spirit, it is usual to add to it a small portion of a substance which is less volatile, such as extract of musk, extract of vanilla, ambergris, storax, tolu, orris, vitivert, or benzoin ”

“ Balsams without benzoic acid:—
Copaiva balsam, balsam of copahu or capivi, is obtained from incisions made in the trunk of the Copaifera officinalis, a tree which grows in Brazil and Cayenne. It is pale yellow, middling liquid, clear transparent, has a bitter, sharp, hot taste; a penetrating disagreeable smell; a specific gravity of from 0·950 to 0·996. It dissolves in absolute alcohol, partially in spirit of wine, forms with alkalis, crystalline compounds. It consists of 45·59 ethereous oil, 52·75 of a yellow brittle resin, and 1·66 of a brown viscid resin. ”

“ Exercising the high priesthood, he initiated the golden age of the Toltecs, during which the cotton grew in various colours, red, blue, orange, and purple, maize crops were over-abundant, the canes grew as large round as tree trunks, and pumpkins so big that a man's arms could not encircle one; nobody was ever hungry, animals were all tame, and the birds sang wonderfully. Sahagun catalogues him as the eighth king of the Toltecs. ”

“ In the presence of fat or volatile oils, copaiba balsam, gurjun balsam, or Canada balsam, it remains, however, more or less thickly fluid or more or less soft-smeary. If the balsam be pure, the cold mixture, after washing with water, should yield a hardish or soft-friable mass, which, when kneaded with the fingers, should not prove smeary or sticky.
Fat oils are also very readily recognized by the use of warm petroleum-ether. The extract is evaporated, saponified with potash lye, extracted with alcohol, evaporated and decomposed with hydrochloric acid. ”

“ Paul Gyulai referring to Toldi, asked, "Which of us has not experienced in youth that same restless desire to achieve something, driving him from the family circle out into the wide world ? Who does not remember a mother who watched him with an riage which has fallen into a ditch, he puts Toldi the anxious heart, and felt an uplifting sense of triumph at his first success ? Who has not, on the threshold of manhood, been guilty of some indiscretion which has caused suffering to others, all unintended it may be, so that a hidden wound pains him even when he is other- wise happy ? ”

“ Every fault finds its merciless judge in his own soul. In the first part of the epic the young Toldi unintentionally commits a crime, and then goes straight to the king at Buda, to receive either punishment or pardon. He cannot rest while there is a stain upon his character. In the second part, when Toldi breaks the rules of chivalry by fighting under another's colours and winning the hand of a lady for his friend, and when too late his own passion awakes and gives him infinite pain, it is still the pangs of an uneasy conscience from which he suffers most. ”

“ Again, setting aside the old Moorish houses still remaining, you find that the modern Toledans have built on the same plan, shutting themselves up within four walls like true Orientals, and delighting their eyes with foliage and fountain in sunny courts. But the beautiful precept of cleanliness is not imposed on the Toledans as it was on the Moors, and everywhere one regrets it. The streets are filthy, and so rugged that they make you lame in an hour ”

“ This Tologo, as it is called, is partially surrounded by Banyan, Yetty, and Verengen trees, between which and the edge of the lake is a fine broad walk. Beyond the top of the Tologo rises a thick jungle, in the many labyrinths of which the very foundation, and some pillars of the palace, said to have been that of the Sultana, are still to be seen, as well as the former site of many a dwelling, around which the trees have grown for centuries. ”

“ It is syncopated from tonalli and tlan; the latter is the locative termination; tonalli means warmth, sunniness, akin to tonatiuh, sun; but it also means soul, spirit, especially when combined with the possessive pronouns, as totonal, our soul, our immaterial essence. By a further syncope tonallan was reduced to Tollan or Tullan, and by the elision of the terminal semi-vowel, this again became Tula. This name may therefore mean “the place of souls,” an accessory signification which doubtless had its influence on the growth of the myths concerning the locality. ”

“ A fire of sticks was burning near by, and over the fire hung an iron pot, and out of that pot came forth bubblings and gurglings, and a vague suggestive steaminess. Also smells—warm, rich, and varied smells—that twined and twisted and wreathed themselves at last into one complete, voluptuous, perfect smell that seemed like the very soul of Nature taking form and appearing to her children, a true Goddess, a mother of solace and comfort. Toad now knew well that he had not been really hungry before. ”

“ We slept next at Toul, where there is a fine huge dull cathedral, a beautiful creche by Ignace Robert, and a lovely convent cloister of flamboyant arches. Living at Toul is wonderfully cheap; our rooms for three were only four francs, and dinner for three four francs. [396] We wonder people do not emigrate to Lorraine instead of to Australia; it would be far cheaper, and infinitely more amusing. If it had been warmer, we should have gone to Domremy and S. Mihiel, but we feared the cold. ”

“ He is always ready to risk his life for his king, even after they have quarrelled. Altogether he is one of those who do everything with their whole soul. soldier belongs body and soul to his duty. Toldi the lover is penetrated to the centre of his being by the bitter- sweet feeling of his love. Every man possesses the qualities which belong to him as the member of a particular nation, as an individual and as a unit of humanity in general. In Toldi, not only the national and the individual interest us, we are attracted by the universal human element in him. ”

“ The shadow of a frown came upon Tolla’s face; a glint of fire clouded her pale, serene eyes.
“He will be the greatest man of his world,” she said quietly.
THERE was an awkward silence. “The harem, I am told,” Jane said presently, “is one of your customs.” She took a plunge. “And Tako told us why they want our Earth girls. There was one of my friends stolen from Bermuda—”
“And yet you call him very nice,” Tolla interrupted with sudden irony. “Girls are frank in our world. But you are not. ”