_Gummmi-resina Olibanum_, _Thus masculum_[520]; _Olibanum_,
_Frankincense_; F. _Encens_; G. _Weihrauch_.
[517] _Blue Book_, Island of Jamaica, for 1871.
[518] _Consular Reports_, No. 3, presented to Parliament, July 1873.
[519] Rost van Tonningen, _Jahresbericht_ of Wiggers (Canstatt) for
1858. 75; _Pharm. Journ._ ii. (1872) 644. 654.
[520] The λίβανος of the Greeks, the Latin _Olibanum_, as well as
the Arabic _Lubân_, and the analogous sounds in other languages, are
all derived from the Hebrew _Lebonah_, signifying _milk_: and modern
travellers who have seen the frankincense trees state that the fresh
juice is _milky_, and hardens when exposed to the air. The word _Thus_,
on the other hand, seems to be derived from the verb θύειν, _to
sacrifice_.
=Botanical Origin=—Olibanum is obtained from the stem of several
species of _Boswellia_, inhabiting the hot and arid regions of Eastern
Africa, near Cape Gardafui and of the southern coast of Arabia.
Notwithstanding the recent elaborate and valuable researches of
Birdwood,[521] the olibanum trees are still but imperfectly known, as
will be evident in the following enumeration:—
1. _Boswellia Carterii_ Birdw.—This includes the three following forms,
which may be varieties of a single species, or may belong to two or
more species,—a point impossible to settle until more perfect materials
shall have been obtained.
a. _Boswellia_ No. 5, Oliver, _Flora of Tropical Africa_, I. (1868)
324, _Mohr meddu_ or _Mohr madow_ of the natives; _meddu_, according
to Playfair and Hildebrandt, means black. The leaflets are crenate,
undulate, and pubescent on both sides.
This tree is found in the Somali Country, growing a little inland in
the valleys and on the lower part of the hills, never on the range
close to the sea. It yields the olibanum called _Lubân Bedowi_ or
_Lubân Sheheri_ (Playfair).
Hildebrandt describes the Mohr meddu as a tree 12 to 15 feet high, with
a few branches, indigenous to the limestone range of Ahl or Serrut, in
the northern part of the Somali Country, where it occurs in elevations
of from 3000 to 5000 feet. To this tree belongs the figure 58 in
Bentley and Trimen’s _Medicinal Plants_ (Part 20, 1877).
b. _Boswellia_ No. 6, Oliver, _op. cit._, Birdwood, _Linn. Trans._
xxvii., tab. 29.—Sent by Playfair among the specimens of the preceding,
and with the same indications and native name. This form, the “Mohr
meddu” of the Somalis, has obscurely serrulate or almost entire
leaflets, velvety and paler below, glabrous above. The figure (which
is not given in the reprint) is very much the same as that of the
following.
c. _Maghrayt d’sheehaz_ of the Maharas, Birdwood, _l. c._ tab. 30,
reprinted in Cooke’s report, plate I; Carter, _Journ. of Bombay Branch
of R. Asiat. Soc._ ii., tab. 23; _B. sacra_ Flückiger, _Lehrbuch der
Pharmakognosie des Pflanzenreiches_, 1867. 31.—Ras Fartak, S.E. coast
of Arabia, growing in the detritus of limestone cliffs and close to the
shore,[522] also near the village of Merbat (Carter, 1844-1846).
Birdwood’s figure refers to a specimen propagated in the Victoria
Gardens, Bombay, from cuttings sent there from the Somali country by
Playfair.
2. _B. Bhau-Dajiana_ Birdw. _l. c._ tab. 31, or plate III. of the
reprint.—Somali Country (Playfair); cultivated in Victoria Gardens,
Bombay, where it flowered in 1868. The differences between this species
and B. Carterii are not very obvious.
[521] _On the Genus_ Boswellia, _with descriptions and figures of
three new species.—Linn. Trans._ xxvii. (1870) 111. 148. This paper
is reprinted as an appendix to Cooke’s “Report on the gums, resins,
... of the Indian Museum,” Lond. 1874.—The original plates are much
superior and more complete than the reprints.—The materials on which
Dr. Birdwood’s observations have been chiefly founded, and to which we
also have had access, are,—1. Specimens collected during an expedition
to the Somali Coast made by Col. Playfair in 1862.—2. Growing Plants at
Bombay and Aden, raised from cuttings sent by Playfair.—3. A specimen
obtained by H. J. Carter in 1846, near Ras Fartak, on the south-east
coast of Arabia, and still growing in Victoria Gardens, Bombay; and
figured by Carter in _Journ. of Bombay Branch of R. Asiatic_ Soc. ii.
(1848) 380, tab. 23.
[522] In the λιβανωτοϕόρος χώρα of the antiquity, the hill region
(where Mohr meddu is growing) used to be contrasted with the coast
region, the Sahil. See Sprenger (quoted further on, page 136, footnote
3), page 90.
3. _Boswellia_ No. 4, Oliver, _op. cit._—Bunder Murayah, Somali Country
(Playfair). Grows out of the rock, but sometimes in the detritus of
limestone; never found on the hills close to the sea, but further
inland and on the highest ground. Yields _Lubân Bedowi_ and _L.
Sheheri_; was received at Kew as _Mohr add_, a name applied by Birdwood
also to _B. Bhau-Dajiana_.
From the informations due to Captains Miles[523] and Hunter and to
Haggenmacher[524] it would appear that the _Beyo_ or _Beyu_ of the
Somalis (Boido, Capt. Hunter) is agreeing with this tree.
4. _Boswellia neglecta_, S. Le M. Moore, in _Journ. of Botany_,
xv.(1877) 67 and tab. 185. This tree has been collected by Hildebrandt
in the limestone range, Ahl or Serrut, in the northern part of the
Somali Country. It occurs in elevations of 1000 to 1800 metres,
and attains a height of 5 to 6 metres. Its exudation, according to
Hildebrandt, is collected in but small quantity and mixed with the
other kinds of olibanum. Moore gives _Murlo_ as the vernacular name of
this tree, Hildebrandt calls it _Mohr add_.
In addition to the foregoing, from which the olibanum of commerce is
collected, it may be convenient to mention also the following:—
1. _Boswellia Frereana_ Birdw., a well-marked and very distinct species
of the Somali Country, which the natives call _Yegaar_. It abounds in
a highly fragrant resin collected and sold as _Lubân Meyeti_ or _Lubân
Mati_, which we regard to be the substance originally known as _Elemi_
(see this article).
2. _B. papyrifera_ Richard (_Plösslea floribunda_ Endl.), the “Makar”
of Sennaar and the mountainous region ascending to 4000 feet above the
level of the sea on the Abyssinian rivers Takazze and Mareb. It appears
not to grow in the outer parts of north-eastern Africa. Its resin
is not collected, and stated by Richard[525] to be transparent; it
consists no doubt merely of resin (and essential oil?) without gum.[526]
3. _B. thurifera_ Colebr. (_B. glabra_ et _B. serrata_ Roxb.), the
_Salai_ tree of India, produces a soft odoriferous resin which is used
in the country as incense but is not the olibanum of commerce. The tree
is particularly abundant on the trap hills of the Dekhan and Satpura
range. Berg, in “Offizinelle Gewächse,” xiv. c. gives a good figure of
this species.
=History=—The use of olibanum goes back to a period of extreme
antiquity, as proved by the numerous references[527] in the writings of
the Bible to _incense_, of which it was an essential ingredient. It is
moreover well known that many centuries before Christ, the drug was one
of the most important objects of the traffic which the Phœnicians[528]
and Egyptians carried on with Arabia.
[523] See his picturesque description of the tree, _Journ. R. Geograph.
Soc._ 22 (1872) 64.
[524] Flückiger, _Pharm. Journ._ viii. (1878) 805.
[525] _Tent. Floræ Abyssinicae_, i. (1847) 248; figure of the tree tab.
xxxiii.
[526] See the paper quoted in note 2.
[527] As for instance, Exod. xxx. 34; I Chron. x. 29; Matth. ii. 11.
[528] Movers, _Das phönizische Alterthum_, iii. (1856) 99.
299.—Sprenger, _l. c._ p. 299, also points out the importance of
the olibanum with regard to the commercial relations of those early
periods.
Professor Dümichen[529] of Strassburg has discovered at the temple
of Dayr el Báhri in Upper Egypt, paintings illustrating the traffic
carried on between Egypt and a distant country called Punt or Pount
as early as the 17th century B.C. In these paintings there are
representations not only of bags of olibanum, but also of olibanum
trees planted in tubs or boxes, being conveyed by ship from Arabia to
Egypt. Inscriptions on the same building, deciphered by Professor D.,
describe with the utmost admiration the shipments of precious woods,
heaps of incense, verdant incense trees,[530] ivory, gold, stimmi
(sulphide of antimony), silver, apes, besides other productions not yet
identified. The country Pount was first thought to be southern Arabia,
but is now considered to comprehend the Somali coast, together with a
portion of the opposite Arabian coast. Punt possibly refers to “Opone,”
an old name for Hafoon, a place south of Cape Gardafui.
A detailed account of frankincense is given by Theophrastus[531] (B.C.
370-285) who relates that the commodity is produced in the country
of the Sabæans, one of the most active trading nations of antiquity,
occupying the southern shores of Arabia. It appears from Diodorus that
the Sabæans sold their frankincense to the Arabs, through whose hands
it passed to the Phœnicians who disseminated the use of it in the
temples throughout their possessions, as well as among the nations with
whom they traded. The route of the caravans from south-eastern Arabia
to Gaza in Palestine, has recently (1866) been pointed out by Professor
Sprenger. Plutarch relates that when Alexander the Great captured Gaza,
500 talents of olibanum and 100 talents of myrrh were taken, and sent
thence to Macedonia.
The _libanotophorous region_ of the old Sabæans is in fact the very
country visited by Carter in 1844 and 1846, and lying as he states on
the south coast of Arabia between long. 52° 47′ and 52° 23′ east.[532]
It was also known to the ancients, at least to Strabo and Arrian, that
the opposite African coast likewise produced olibanum,[533] as it is
now doing almost exclusively; and the latter states that the drug is
shipped partly to Egypt and partly to Barbaricon at the mouth of the
Indus.
As exemplifying the great esteem in which frankincense was held
by the ancients, the memorable gifts presented by the Magi to the
infant Saviour will occur to every mind. A few other instances may be
mentioned: Herodotus[534] relates that the Arabians paid to Darius,
king of Persia, an annual tribute of 1000 talents of frankincense.
A remarkable Greek inscription, brought to light in modern times[535]
on the ruins of the temple of Apollo at Miletus, records the gifts
made to the shrine by Seleucus II., king of Syria (B.C. 246-227),
and his brother Antiochus Hierax, king of Cilicia, which included in
addition two vessels of gold and silver, ten talents of frankincense
(λιβανωτοός) and one of myrrh.
[529] Dümichen (Johannes), _The fleet of an_ _Egyptian Queen from the
17th century before our era, and ancient Egyptian military parade,
represented on a monument of the same age ... after a copy taken
from the terrace of the temple of Dêr-el-Baheri_, translated from
the German by Anna Dümichen, Leipzig, 1868.—See also Mariette-Bey,
_Deir-el-Bahari_, Leipzig, 1877, Pl. 6, 7, 8.
[530] In one of the inscriptions they are referred to in terms which
Professor D. has thus rendered:—“Thirty-one verdant incense trees
brought among the precious things from the land of Punt for the majesty
of this god Amon, the lord of the terrestrial thrones. Never has
anything similar been seen since the foundation of the world.”
[531] _Hist. Plant._ lib. iv. c. 7.—See also Sprenger, _l.c._ 219.
[532] See also Sprenger, _Die alte Geographie Arabiens_. Bern, 1875.
296, 302, also 244.
[533] “Thus transfretanum,” Sprenger, 299.
[534] Rawlinson’s _Herodotus_, ii. (1858) 488.—Sprenger, _l. c._ 300,
alludes to olibanum being exported to Babylonia and Persia.
[535] Chishull, _Antiquitates Asiaticæ_, Lond. 1758. 65-72.
The emperor Constantine made numerous offerings to the church under St.
Silvester, bishop of Rome A.D. 314-335, of costly vessels and fragrant
drugs and spices,[536] among which mention is made in several instances
of _Aromata_ and _Aromata in incensum_, terms under which olibanum is
to be understood.[537]
With regard to the consumption of olibanum in other countries, it
is an interesting fact that the Arabs in their intercourse with the
Chinese, which is known to have existed as early as the 1Oth century,
carried with them _olibanum_, myrrh, dragon’s blood, and liquid
storax,[538] drugs which are still imported from the west into China.
The first-named is called _Ju-siang_, i.e. _milk perfume_, a curious
allusion to its Arabic name _Lubân_ signifying _milk_. In the year
1872, Shanghai imported[539] of this drug no less than 1,360 peculs
(181,333 lb.).
=Collection=—The fragrant gum-resin is distributed through the leaves
and bark of the trees, and even exudes as a milky juice also from the
flowers; its fragrance is stated to be already appreciable in a certain
distance. Cruttenden,[540] who visited the Somali Country in 1843, thus
describes the collecting of olibanum by the Mijjertheyn tribe, whose
chief port is Bunder Murayah (lat. 11° 43′ N.)[541]:—
“During the hot season the men and boys are daily employed in
collecting gums, which process is carried on as follows:—About the end
of February or beginning of March, the Bedouins visit all the trees
in succession and make a deep incision in each, peeling off a narrow
strip of bark for about 5 inches below the wound. This is left for a
month when a fresh incision is made in the same place, but deeper. A
third month elapses and the operation is again repeated, after which
the gum is supposed to have attained a proper degree of consistency.
The mountain sides are immediately covered with parties of men and
boys, who scrape off the large clear globules into a basket, whilst
the inferior quality that has run down the tree is packed separately.
The gum when first taken from the tree is very soft, but hardens
quickly.... Every fortnight the mountains are visited in this manner,
the trees producing larger quantities as the season advances, until the
middle of September, when the first shower of rain puts a close to the
gathering that year.”
The informations due to J. M. Hildebrandt, who visited the Somali in
1875, are in accordance with Cruttenden’s statements. The former says,
that the latest crops are greatly injured by the rains, the drug being
partly dissolved by the water.
[536] These remarkable gifts are enumerated by Vignoli in his _Liber
Pontificalis_, Rome, 1724-55, and include beside Olibanum, _Oleum
nardinum_, _Oleum Cyprium_, _Balsam_, _Storax Isaurica_, _Stacte_,
_Aromata cassiæ_, _Saffron_ and _Pepper_.
[537] The ancient name of Cape Gardafui was _Promontorium Aromatum_.
[538] Bretschneider, _Ancient Chinese_, &c. Lond. 1871. 19.
[539] _Returns of Trade at the Treaty Ports in China for_ 1872, p. 4.
[540] _Trans. Bombay Geograph. Soc._ vii. (1846) 121.
[541] See sketch of the Somali coast. _Pharm. Journ._ viii. (13 Apr.
1878) 806.
Carter[542] describing the collection of the drug in southern Arabia,
writes thus:—“The gum is procured by making longitudinal incisions
through the bark in the months of May and December, when the cuticle
glistens with intumescence from the distended state of the parts
beneath; the operation is simple, and requires no skill on the part
of the operator. On its first appearance the gum comes forth white as
milk, and according to its degree of fluidity, finds its way to the
ground, or concretes on the branch near the place from which it first
issued, from whence it is collected by men and boys employed to look
after the trees by the different families who possess the land in which
they grow.” According to Captain Miles,[543] the drug is not collected
by the people of the country, but by Somalis who cross in numbers from
the opposite coast, paying the Arab tribes for the privilege. The
Arabian Lubân, he says, is considered inferior to the African.
It would even appear that the collection of the drug has ceased in
Arabia, and that the names of Lubân Maheri or Mascati or Sheehaz,
referring to the coast of Arabia between Ras Fartak (52° 10′ E.) and
Ras Morbas (54° 34′) are now applied to the olibanum brought there from
the opposite African coast.[544] Hildebrandt informed one of us (letter
dated 26th Dec., 1878) that he has ascertained at Aden, that all the
frankincense imported in Aden comes from Africa.
=Description=—Olibanum as found in commerce varies rather considerably
in quality and appearance. It may in general terms be described as a
dry gum-resin, consisting of detached tears up to an inch in length, of
globular, pear-shaped, clavate, or stalactitic form, mixed with more
or less irregular lumps of the same size. Some of the longer tears are
slightly agglutinated, but most are distinct. The predominant forms are
rounded,—angular fragments being less frequent, though the tears are
not seldom fissured. Small pieces of the translucent brown papery bark
are often found adhering to the flat pieces. The “Lubân Fasous Bedow”
as exported from the Mijjertheyn district, in the eastern part of the
Somali Country, is in very fine large tears.
The colour of the drug is pale yellowish or brownish, but the finer
qualities consist of tears which are nearly colourless or have a
greenish hue. The smallest grains only are transparent, the rest are
translucent and somewhat milky, and not transparent even after the
removal of the white dust with which they are always covered. But if
heated to about 94° C., they become almost transparent. When broken
they exhibit a rather dull and waxy surface. Examined under the
polarizing microscope no trace of crystallization is observable.
Olibanum softens in the mouth; its taste is terebinthinous and slightly
bitter, but by no means disagreeable. Its odour is pleasantly aromatic,
but is only fully developed when the gum-resin is exposed to an
elevated temperature. At 100° C. the latter softens without actually
fusing, and if the heat be further raised decomposition begins.
[542] See my paper on Luban Mati and Olibanum, _Pharm. Journ._ viii.
(1878) 805, also Hildebrandt’s note in the “Sitzungs-Bericht der
Gesellschaft naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin,” 19th Nov. 1878,
195.—F. A. F..
[543] _Loc. cit._
[544] _On the neighbourhood of Bunder Murayah_, in _Journ. of R.
Geograph. Society_, xxii. (1872) 65.
=Chemical Composition=—Cold water quickly changes olibanum into a soft
whitish pulp, which when rubbed down in a mortar forms an emulsion.
Immersed in spirit of wine, a tear of olibanum is not altered much
in form, but it becomes of an almost pure opaque white. In the first
case the water dissolves the gum, while in the second the alcohol
removes the resin. We find that pure olibanum treated with spirit
of wine leaves 27 to 35 of gum,[545] which forms a thick mucilage
with three parts of water. Dissolved in 5 parts of water it yields a
neutral solution, which is precipitated by perchloride of iron as well
as by silicate of sodium, but not by neutral acetate of lead. It is
consequently a gum of the same class as gum arabic, if not identical
with it. Its solution contains the same amount of lime as gum arabic
affords.
The resin of olibanum has been examined by Hlasiwetz (1867), according
to whom it is a uniform substance having the composition C₂₀H₃₀O₃.
We find that it is not soluble in alkalis, nor have we succeeded in
converting it into a crystalline body by the action of dilute alcohol.
It is not uniformly distributed throughout the tears; if they are
broken after having been acted upon by dilute alcohol, it now and
then happens that a clear stratification is perceptible, showing a
concentric arrangement.
Olibanum contains an essential oil, of which Braconnot (1808) obtained
5 per cent., Stenhouse (1840) 4 per cent., and Kurbatow (1871-1874) 7
per cent. According to Stenhouse it has a sp. gr. of 0·866, a boiling
point of 179·4° C., and an odour resembling that of turpentine but more
agreeable. Kurbatow separated this oil into two portions, the one of
which has the formula C₁₀H₁₆, boils at 158° C., and combines with HCl
to form crystals; the other contains oxygen. The bitter principle of
olibanum forms an amorphous brown mass.
The resin of olibanum submitted to destructive distillation affords no
umbelliferone. Heated with strong nitric acid it develops no peculiar
colour, but at length camphretic acid (see Camphor) is formed, which
may be also obtained from many resins and essential oils if submitted
to the same oxidizing agent.
=Commerce=—The olibanum of Arabia is shipped from several small places
along the coast between Damkote and Al Kammar, but the quantity
produced in this district is much below that furnished by the Somali
Country in Eastern Africa. The latter is brought to Zeyla, Berbera,
Bunder Murayah, and many smaller ports, whence it is shipped to Aden
or direct to Bombay. The trade is chiefly in the hands of Banians, and
the great emporium for the drug is Bombay. A certain portion is shipped
through the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb to Jidda,—Von Kremer[546] says to
the value of £12,000 annually. The quantity exported from Bombay in the
year 1872-73 was 25,100 cwt., of which 17,446 cwt. were shipped to the
United Kingdom, and 6,184 cwt. to China.[547]
=Uses=—As a medicine olibanum is nearly obsolete, at least in Britain.
The great consumption of the drug is for the incense used in the Roman
Catholic and Greek Churches.
[545] I obtained 32·14 per cent. from the finest tears of the kind
called Fasous Bedowi, with which I was presented by Capt. Hunter of
Aden.—F. A. F..
[546] _Aegypten, Forschungen über Land und Volk_, Leipzig, 1863.
[547] _Statement of the Trade and Navigation of the Presidency of
Bombay for_ 1872-73, pt. ii. 78.