From the Egyptians, the practices of the toilet, like many other things, were transmitted to the Jews. In Egypt, the Hebrew woman had known the sweet-scented flower of the henna bush, and, finding it also in Judea, it served her as a perfume. In the Bible the henna flower is called _kopher_, in Greek _kypros_, and the Cyprian salve, mentioned by Pliny, was prepared by boiling henna flowers in oil and then expressing them. Painting the face was also practised by the Hebrew women, reference being made to it in II. Kings ix. 30, and Jeremiah v. 30, while painting of the eyes is mentioned in Ezekiel xxiii. 40. The number of perfume substances known to the ancient Hebrews was but a limited one, they consisting, besides the above-mentioned henna flower, chiefly of a few gum-resins, especially bdellium, olibanum and myrrh. In ancient times olibanum was, without doubt, the most important perfume-substance. It was introduced into commerce by the Phoenicians, and, like many other substances, it received from them its name, which was adopted by other nations. Thus, the Hebrews called the tree _lebonah_, the Arabs, _lubah_, while the Greeks named it, λιβανός and the resin derived from it, the celebrated frankincense of the ancients, λιβανωτόςτς, Latin, _olibanum_. Regarding the mode of gaining the olibanum, some curious ideas prevailed in ancient times. Thus, Herodotus writes: "Arabia is the only country in which olibanum grows, as well as myrrh, cassia, cinnamon and lederum. With the exception of myrrh, the Arabs encounter many difficulties in procuring these products. Olibanum they obtain by burning styrax, for every olibanum tree is guarded by a number of small-sized winged serpents of a variegated appearance, which can be driven away by nothing but styrax vapors." According to Pliny, who gives a very full account of olibanum, _Arabia felix_ received its by-name from the abundance of olibanum and myrrh found there. He states that olibanum grows in no other country besides Arabia, but it is not found in every part of it. About in the centre, upon a high mountain, he continues, is the country of the Atramites, a province of the Sabeans, from which the olibanum region is distant about eight days' journey. It is called Saba and is everywhere rendered inaccessible by mountains, a narrow defile, through which the export is carried on, leading into an adjoining province inhabited by the Mineans. In Saba itself were not more than 300 families, called the saints, who claimed the cultivation of olibanum as a right of heritage. When making the incisions in the trees, and while gathering the olibanum, the men were prohibited from having intercourse with women and from attending funerals. Notwithstanding the fact that the Romans carried on war in Arabia, none of them had ever seen an olibanum tree. When there was less chance of selling the olibanum, it was gathered but once in the year, but since the increase in the demand, it was gathered