Many gums and resins entered into the composition of balm, such as _resin_, _Burgundy pitch_, _ship-pitch_, _gum elemi_, _assafœtida_, _aloes_, _myrrh_, _galbanum_, _acacia_, _tucamahaca_, _benzoin_, _styrax calamite_, _fluid styrax_, _turpentine_, _camphor_, _cedria_, _all the_ species of balm; _wood of aloes_, _tartar_, _potash_, _from the lees of wine_, _civet_, _castor_, _musk_, _ambergris_, _labdanum_, _Jew’s pitch_, _asphaltum_, _pisasphaltum_, _slacked-lime_, _plaster_, _sulphur_, _common salt_, _rock-salt_, _saltpetre_, _alum_, _amber_, _&c_. The article of compound drugs, is not less extensive, such as the tincture of _musk_, _ambergris_, _civet_, _benzoin_, _styrax_, _aloes_, _myrrh_. The distilled oils and essences of the plants which we have named,--spirits of wine, distilled myrrh, aloes, and amber,--is excellent for the preservation of the fetus. The salt of Clauderus has also enjoyed a great reputation; the following is its composition: Dissolve one pound of common salt with a pound of oil of vitriol in a crucible, apply a cover closely luted, and distil it gradually in a sand bath; you may pour off a spirit very excellent for a lotion; in the bottom of the crucible will remain a caput mortuum, which should be dissolved according to art, and after evaporation, you will have the salt so much esteemed by the author. We may add here the brine, which is described in the collections of Charles de Maetz, (chap. 100, et 194; and chap. 23 of the book entitled _Chemia Rationalis_, and also in the work of Blanchard,) they advise that after a corpse has been emptied and cleaned of its excretions, it be placed in a leaden coffin, and there macerated in a sufficient quantity of pure oil of turpentine, and after some days of maceration, to wash it with spirits of wine to remove the odour, then sprinkle it with a strong tincture of myrrh and aloes, which they call _balsamum mortuorum_, and that it be finally dried in the sun.