According to Holmes and Nalor, a Tolu balsam differing in its chemical behavior is found in the English wholesale trade. In thick layers it is yellow-brown, but perfectly transparent and gold-yellow in thin layers and extraordinarily sticky. By storage it hardens but slightly, and does not become brittle even if exposed for several days to a temperature of 212° F. Its odor reminds one somewhat of glue, and it develops a pungent, sharp taste only after chewing it for a few seconds. Its melting point lies at 136.4° F., being lower than that of ordinary Tolu balsam, from which it also differs in that it completely dissolves in ether as well as in benzine, while it is only partially dissolved by potash lye. The balsam contains no toluene, nor a hydrocarbon, boiling at 320° F. Further investigations have shown it actually to be a natural product, the derivation of which, however, could not be ascertained. _Storax_ is the produce of _Liquid ambar orientale, Mill_, a plantain-like tree which reaches a height of about 32 feet. In Southern Asia Minor, especially in Cyprus, the tree forms handsome, dense forests. According to Flückiger, the balsam is extracted from the peeled-off bark, with the assistance of warm water. The mass thus melted out sinks down in the water, and is later on combined with the substance obtained by expressing the boiled bark while still warm. This mixture forms the _liquid storax_ (_Storax liquidus_). The residue remaining after expression is dried in the sun and forms, under the name of _Cortex thymiamatis_, an article of commerce, which is used for fumigating purpose, for the preparation of ordinary storax, etc. The crude storax is brought to Smyrna, Syra, and Kos, and comes into the European market almost exclusively from Trieste. Liquid storax is a sticky, opaque substance of the consistency of turpentine. It has a mouse-gray color, which by contact with the air becomes brown on the surface, an agreeable benzoin-like odor, and a sharp, pungent, aromatic taste. It is heavier than water, its specific gravity being 1.112 to 1.115. On losing its content of moisture (by drying out when heated) it becomes brown and clear. When exposed to the air in a thick layer it does not completely dry, and in a thin layer only after considerable time; but when pressed with the finger always shows a certain stickiness. It is partially soluble in spirits of wine, yielding with it a more or less turbid solution. It is also incompletely soluble in oil of turpentine, benzine, petroleum-ether, and chloroform. Viewed under the microscope liquid storax appears as a colorless thickish fluid, intermingled with larger and smaller drops, fragments of bark tissue, and now and then, perhaps, with crystals of styracin and cinnamic acid.