Chronicles of Pharmacy, Vol. 1 (of 2)Wootton, A. C.
History
Chronicles of Pharmacy, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Wootton, A. C.
Pharmacy -- History
The formula for the holy incense given in Exodus, xxx, 35, is
sufficiently definite. Taking it as it is translated in the Revised
Version, the prescription orders stacte, onycha, galbanum and
frankincense, equal parts; seasoned with salt; powdered.
The word translated incense in that passage, and also in Deuteronomy,
xxxiii, 10, and in Jeremiah, xliv, 21, is Ketorah, which originally
meant a perfumed or savoury smoke. In the Septuagint the word used for
Ketorah is Thymiana. In other passages (Isaiah, xliii, 33, lx, 6, lxvi,
3; Jeremiah, vi, 20; xvii, 26, and xli, 5), the word used in Hebrew was
Lebonah. This in our Authorised Version appears each time as incense,
but in the Revised Version the name frankincense is uniformly adopted.
Lebonah meant whiteness, probably milkiness being understood in this
connection, and travellers state that when the gum exudes from the
tree it is milky-white. The Greek equivalent, libanos, occurs severed
times in the New Testament (Matt., ii, 11; Revelations, xviii, 3).
The Arabic term was luban, and apparently olibanum is a modification
of this Arabic name with the article prefixed, Al-luban. The common
trade term “thus” is the Greek word for incense, and is derived from
the verb thuein, to sacrifice. Thurible was the Greek equivalent of the
censer. The same word has been modified into fume in English. There
is, besides, a common gum thus, obtained from the pines which yield
American turpentine.
Olibanum, or frankincense, derived from various species of the
Boswellia, was greatly prized among many of the ancient nations,
especially by the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Phœnicians. The
finest qualities were grown in Somaliland, but the stocks of these
were always bought up by the Arabs, who monopolised the commerce in
olibanum. It was believed for centuries that the shrub from which it
was obtained was a native of South Arabia, and an old Eastern legend
alluded to in the Apocalypse of Moses declares that Adam was allowed to
bring this tree with him when he was expelled from the Garden of Eden.
Bruce, the African traveller, first ascertained its African origin.
The historical notes on Olibanum in “Pharmacographia” are extremely
interesting and complete.
Stacte, in Hebrew Nataph, is frequently identified with opobalsamum,
and this interpretation is given in the margin of the Revised Version.
But there are reasons for regarding it as a particularly fine kind of
myrrh in drops or tears. Nataph meant something dropped or distilled.
Galbanum, it is not disputed, was the galbanum known to us by the same
name. Its Hebrew name was Helbanah or Chelbanah. It has been an article
of commerce from very early times, but the exact plant from which
it is obtained is very uncertain. Hanbury states that the Irvingite
chapels in London still use galbanum as an ingredient in their incense
in imitation of the ancient Jewish custom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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