GILE.\D, Balm of. Our English word halm, and its French equivalent baume, are the contracted forms of balsam, a word QidXaafiui') which the Greeks have adopted from the Hebrew words ?"3 and "i^"^, lord or chief of oils. In ordinarv language the word is used very loosely, but here we are only concerned with the substance to which the English translation of the Bible has given this name. As early as the days of Jacob the district of Gilead j'iclded aromatic substances whicli were in great request. After cast- ing Joseph into a pit, we arc told tiiat his brothers espied a caravan on its way from Gilead. to Egypt, "with their camels bearing spiccry, and balm, and myrrh" (Gen. xxxvii, 25)7 Afterwards, when Jacob dispatched his embassy into Egypt, his pref^cnt to the unknown ruler included " a little balm" (Gen. xliii,
11) ; and at an interval of more than 1000 years late» we liiid that the same region was celebrated for the same production, for we find Jeremiah asking, " Is there no balm in Gilead?" and from an expression in the prophet Ezekiel we find still later that balm was one of the commodities which Hebrew merchants car- ried to the market of Tyre (Ezek. xxvii, 17). In all these passages the original word is *'"i^, tsori' . Dur- ing the interval, however, between Jacob and Jeremi- ah, we are told by Josephus that the queen of Sheba brought " the root of the balsam" as a present to Solo- mon {Ant. viii, C, C) ; and there can lie no doubt that, in the later days of Jewish historj-, the neighborhood of Jericho was believed to be the only spot where the true balsam grew, and even there its culture was con- fined to two gardens, the one twenty acres in extent, the other much smaller (Theophrastus).
INIaiiy attempts have been made by different writers to identify the tsori, not one of which, however, can be considered altogether conclusive. The Syriac ver- sion in Jer. viii, 22, and the Samaritan in Gen. xxxvii, 25, suppose cera, "wax," to be meant; others, as the Arabic version in the passages cited in Genesis, con- jecture theriaca, a medical compound of great sup- posed virtue in serpent bites. Of the same opinion is Castell {Lex. Hept. s. v. '^".U). Luther and the Swed- ish version have "salve," "ointment," in the passa- ges in Jeremiah ; but in Ezek. xxvii, 17 they read "mastic." The Jewish Eabbis, Junius and Treniel- lius, Deodatius, etc., have "balm" or "balsam," as the A. v. ; Celsius {ffiei-ob. ii, 180) identifies tlie tsori with the mastic-tree {Pisfacia lenliscus). PosenmUl- ler {Blhl. Bat. p. 1G9) believes that the pressed juice of the fruit of the zukuni-tree (Elwagnus avrjust'f alius, Lin. [?]), or narrow-leaved oleaster, is the substance denoted; but the same author, in another place {Schol. in Gen. xxxvii, 25), mentions the balsam of Alecca {Amyris opobalsumum, Lin.), referred to by Strabo (xvi, p. 778) and Diodnrus Siculus (ii, 132) as being probably the isori (see Kitto, Phys. Hist, of Pal. p. 273 ; Hasselquist, Travels, p. 293).
Hasselquist has given a description of the true bal- sam-tree of Mecca. He says that the exudation from the plant " is of a yellow color, and pellucid. It has a most fragrant smell, which is resinous, balsamic, and very agreeable. It is very tenacious or glutinous, sticking to the fingers, and inaA' be drawn into long threads. I have seen it at a Turkish surgeon's, who had it immediatelj' from IMecca, described it, and was informed of its virtues; which are, first, that it is the best stomachic they know, if taken to three grains, to strengthen a wcr.k stomach ; secondly, that it is a most excellent and capital remedy for curing wounds, for if a few drops are applied to the fresh wound it cures it in a very short time" {Travels, p. 293).
The trees which certainly appear to have the best claim for representing the scriptural tsori — supposing, that is, that any one particular tree is denoted by the term — are the Pistacia lentiscus (mastic) and the Amy- ris opobalsamum, Linnreus, the Balsamodendron opo- bidsamum, or (iileadense of modern botanists (Balm of Gilead). One argument in favor of the first-named tree rests upon the fact that its name in Arabic {dseri, dserti) is identical with the Hebrew ; and the Arabian naturalists have attributed great medicinal virtues to the resin afforded iiy tliis tree (IMoscorides, i, 90, 91; Pliny, xxiv, 7 ; Avicenna, edit. Aral), p. 204 and 277, in Celsius). The Pistarin lentiscus has been recorded to occur at Joppa both by Kauwolf and Pococke (Strand. Fhr. Palccst. No. oGl). The derivation of the word from a root, "to flow forth," is opposed to the theory which identifies tlie pressed oil of the zukum with the tsori, although this oil is in very high esteem among the Arabs, who even prefer it to the balm of Mecca, as being more efficacious in wounds and bruises (see Mariti, ii, 353, ed. London). Maundrell {Journey
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from Alep. to Jerus. p. 86), when near the Dead Sea, saw the zukmn-tree. He saj's it is a thorny busli with small leaves, anil that "the fruit, both in shape and color, resembles a small iinripo walnut. The kernels of this fruit the Arabs l>ray in a mortar, and then, put- ting the pulp into scalding water, they skim off tlie oyl which rises to the top : this oyl thej' take inward- ly for bruises, and apply it outwardly to green wounds. ... I procured a bottle of it, and have found it upon some small tryals a very healing medicine." "This," saj's Dr. Robinson (j5'6. Res. ii, 291), "is the modern balsam or oil of Jericho." From jMaundrell's descrip- tion of tlie znkum Dr. Hooker unliesitatingly identi- ties it with Balanites Aigyptiaca, which he saw abun- dantly at Jericho (^Kew Garden Misc. i, 257).