The Liquid Amber Tree.
Liquid Ambar.
A very beautiful tree of the American islands, which we have brought of late into our gardens; it grows fifty feet high, and the branches are numerous and disposed with a tolerable regularity. The leaves are large and very beautiful; they are broad, and are divided much in the manner of the leaves of our maple tree, but much more beautifully; they are of a glossy green, and the tips of the boughs have a fragrant smell. The flowers are greenish and small; the fruit is of the bigness of a small walnut, roundish and rough upon the surface, with several seeds within.
We use a resin which runs from the trunk of this tree in great heats. It is of a reddish colour, soft, and extremely fragrant, nearly a perfume. It is an excellent balsam, nothing exceeds it as a remedy for the whites; and for the weaknesses left after venereal disorders. It is also good in disorders of the lungs; and it works by urine, and dislodges gravel. There was a custom at one time of mixing it among perfumes, but of late it has been neglected, and is grown scarce.
