Others, however, have been of opinion that libneh denotes the storax-tree rather than the white poplar. Thus, in Gen. xxx, 37, the Sept. has pafiCov (jTvpan'i- vr\v, " a rod of styrax ;" and the Greek translation of the Pentateuch, according to Rosenmliller, is more an- cient and of far greater authority than that of Hosea. So R. Jonah, as translated by Celsius, says of libneh, "Dicitur lingua Arabum Lubna;" and in the Arabic translation of Genesis lubne is employed as the repre- sentative of the Hebrew libneh. Lubne, both in Arabic and in Persian, is the name of a tree, and of the fra- grant resin employed for fumigating which exudes from it, and which is commonly known by the name of sto- rax. This resin was well known to the ancients, and is mentioned by Hippocrates and Theophrastus. Dios- corides (i, 79) and Pliny {Nat. Hist, xii, 17 and 25) both speak of the styrax. Pliny says, " That part of Syria which adjoins Judaea above Phoenicia produces storax, which is found in the neighborhood of Gabala (Jebeil) and Marathus, as also of Casius, a mountain of Seleucia. . . . That which comes from the mountain of Amanus, in Syria, is highly esteemed for medicinal purposes, and even more so by the perfumers." Dioscorides describes several kinds, all of which were obtained from Asia Mi- nor; and all that is now imported is believed to be the I produce of that country. But the tree is cultivated in the south of Europe, though it does not there yield any storax. It is found in Greece, and is supposed to be a native of Asia Minor, whence it extends into Syria, and probably farther south. It is therefore a native of the country which was the scene of the transaction related in the above passage of Genesis. From the description of Dioscorides, and his comparing the leaves of the sty- rax to those of the quince, there is no doubt of the same tree being intended: especially as in early times, as at the present day, it yielded a highly fragrant balsamic substance which was esteemed as a medicine, and em- ployed in fumigation. From the similarity of the He- brew name libneh to the Arabic lubne, and from the Sept. having in Genesis translated the former by styrax, it seems most probable that this was the tree intended. It is capable of yielding white wands as well as the poplar; and it is also well qualified to afford complete shade under its ample foliage, as in the passage of Hos. iv, 13. We may also suppose it to have been more par- ticularly alluded to from its being a tree yielding in- cense. " They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under the terebinth and the storax trees, because the shadow thereof is good."
Storax (rrropaZ) is mentioned in Ecclus. xxiv. 15, together with other aromatic substances. The modern Greek name of the tree, as we learn from Sibthorpe (Flo?: Grcec. i, 275), is cTOvpatct, and is a common wild shrub in Greece and in most parts of the Levant. The
POFLICANI
416
PORCH
resin exudes either spontaneously or after incision. This property, however, ii would seem, is only for the most pan possessed hy trees which grow in a warm country; lor English specimens, though they flower profusely, do n.. i produce the drug. .Mr. Daniel Hanbury, who has the whole subjecl of the storax plants with much care (see \\\e Pharmaceutical Jonrnal and Trans- actions for Feb. L857 i, tells us thai a friend of his quite failed t" obtain any exudation from Slyrax officinale, by incisions made in the hottesl pari of the summer of 1856, on specimens growing in the botanic garden at Montpellier. ••Tin- experiment was quite unsuccessful; neither aqueous sap nor resinous juice flowed from the incisions." Still Mr. Hanbury quotes two authorities to show that under certain favorable circumstances the tr.e may exude a fragrant resin even in France and Italy. The Styrax officinalt is a shrub from nine to twelve feet high, with ovate leaves, which are white underneath; the flowers are in racemes, and are white or cream-colored. The whiti appearance agrees with the . -i j mology of the Hebrew Wtnu h. The liquid storax of commerce is the product of the Liquidambar Orien- tate, Mill, (see a fig. in Mr. Hanbury's communication), an entirely different plant, whose resin was probably un- known to the ancients. - Kilto: Smith. See Sta< ii.
I ,fe-' ,-
in. r. lv cut into plain fleurs-de-lis or other simple forms, with the edges chamfered or Blightly hollowed, bui are frequently carved with leaves, like finials, and in rich work are sculptured into animal- and figures, and are often extremely elaborate. No examples are known to exist of earlier date than the Decorated style, and hut few so early; of Perpendicular date specimens are to be found in very many churches, especially in the cathe- drals and old abbey churches. —Parker, Glossary of Ar- chitecture, s. v. See Stall; Standard.
St\ rax Officinale.
Poplicani, a name applied to the .1 Ibigenscs (q. v.).
Poppaea. See Sabina.
Popoftchins, or Popovshchins. a name given to the different sects ,,f Russian dissenters who recog- nise the validity of ordination as given in the Estab- lished church, ami receive most of their popes (q. v.), i.e. priests, from that emmunion. The Popoftchins are divided into five principal sects-, the Starobertzi, or < >ld ■ ialists, the Diaconoftschins, the Peremayan- oftschins, the Epefanoftschins, and the Tschemaboltsi. Those who have no priests at all, or who do not ac- knowledge the validity of Church ordination, are termed ftchins, or No-Priesters. See Mosheim, Eceles. rol.iii; Platon, Greek Church (see index).