Frankincense (nS""-^, lehonah'; whence A(','3«- voc), an odorous resin, so called from its whiteness (Flin. xii, 14, 32) ; mostly imported from Arabia (Isa.
FRANKINCENSE
656
FRANKINCENSE
fx, 6; Jer. vi, 20; see also Straho, 16; Virgil, Georg. ii, 117), yet growing also in Takstine (Cant, iv, 14; unless perhaps some odoriferous kind oi plant is here referred to) ; and used for perfume (Cant, iii, 6), but more espccialh' in sacrifices for fumigation (Lev. ii, 2, 16; V, 11 ; Isa'. xliii, 23; Ixvi, 3; Luke i, 9); and it also was one of tlie ingredients in the perfume which ■was to be prepared for the sanctuary (Exod. xxx, 34). Its use as an accompaniment of the meat-offering (Lev. ii, 1, 16; vi, 15 ; xxiv, 7 ; Numb, v, 15) arose from its fragrant odor when burnt, in which respect the in- cense was a symbol of the divine name, and its diffu- sion an emblem of the publishing abroad of that name (Mai. i, 11 ; comp. Cant, i, 3) ; and from this, as praj'- er is a calling on God's name, tlie incense came to be an emblem of prayer (Psa. cxli, 2; Luke i, 10; Eev. V, 8; viii, 3). In this symbolical representation the frankincense especially set forth holiness as character- istic of the divine attributes, so that the burning of it was a celebration of tlie holiness of Jehovah (Biihr, Symholik d. Jifos. Cultiis, i, 4C6 ; ii, 329, etc.). In this respect its name (^ = ichiteness) likewise became signifi- cant. Franlvincense was also used in the religious services of the heathen (Herod, i, 183; Ovid, Trist. v, 5, 11 ; Metam. vi, 104 ; Arnob. adv. Gentes, vi, 3 ; vii, 20, etc.). On the altars of jMylitta and the Paphian Venus only incense was burnt (Mtinter, Relig. der Ba- lylnnier., p. 55 ; Der tempel d. lummcl. Gdtt'm zu Paphos, p. 20 ; Homer, Od. viii, 363 ; see Damm, s. v. Srvlfeig ; Tacitus, I/ist. ii, 3). The substance itself seems to have been similar to that now known as such, a vege- table resin, brittle, glittering, and of a bitter taste, ob- tained by successive incisions in the bark of a tree cilled the arho?- t/turis, the first of which yields the purest and wliitest kind (HST 'P, \il3avoc ha(pciin)c, or KaOanur); while the produce of the after incisions is spotted witii yellow, and, as it becomes old, loses its ■whiteness altogether. The Indian olibanum, or frank' incense, is imported in chests and casks from Bombay as a regular article of sale. It is chief!}' used in the rites of the Greek and Roman churches; and its only n}edical application at present is as a perfume in sicli rooms. Tlic olibanum, or frankincense used by the Jews in the Temple services, is not to be confounded with the frankincense of commerce, which is a sponta- neous exudation of the Finns ahies, or Norway spruce fir, and resembles in its nature and uses the Burgundy pitch which is obtained from the same tree. See Ix-
Cr.NSE.
The ancients possessed no authentic information re- specting the plant from which this resin is procured (Strabo, xvi, 778, 782; Diod. Sic. ii, 40; Pliny, vi, 20, 32; Arrian, Peripl. p. 158; Ptolemj', vi, 7, 24; Herod, iii, 'J7, 107; Arrian, Alex, vii, 20; Virg. uEn. i, 410; Georg. i, 57, etc.), and modern writers are nearly as much confused in their accounts of it. Even Plinj' and Tlieophrastus, who had never seen it, give mereh' contradictory statements concerning it. It is described bj- the latter as attaining the height: of about five ells, having many branches, leaves like the jiear-tree, and bark like the laurel; but at the same time he men- tions another description, according to which it resem- bles the mastic-tree, its leaves being of a reddish color (/list. Plant, ix, 4). According to Diodorus (v, 41), it is a small ti'ec, resembling the Egj-ptian hawthorn, ■\vith gold-yellow leaves like those of the vond. The didiculty was nitber increased tlian otherwise in the time of Pliny by the importation of some shoots of the tree itself, which seemed to belong to the terebinthns (xii, 31). Garcia de Horto represents it as low, 'with a leaf like tliat of the mastic: he distinguishes two kinds : the finer, growing on the mountains ; the other, dark and of an inferior quality, growing on the plains. Chardin says that the franluncensc-tree t)n tlie moun- tains of Caramania resembles a large pear-tree. The Arabian botanist Abulfadli says it is a vigorous shrub, I