STYX. The principal use of this fragrant resin is in perfumes, and as a cosmetic; for which last purpose, a solution of it in spirit of wine is mixed with so much water as is sufficient to render it milky, as twenty times its quantity or more. It promises, however, to be applicable to other uses, and to approach in virtue, as in fragrance, to storax and balsam of Tolu. It is said to be of great service in disorders of the breast, for resolving obstructions of the pulmonary vessels, and promoting expectoration: in which intentions the flowers are sometimes given, from three or four grains to fifteen. The white powder, precipitated by water from solutions of the benzoin in spirit, has been employed by some as similar and superior to the flowers, but appears to be little other than the pure benzoin in substance: it is not the saline, but the resinous matter of the benzoin, that is most disposed to be precipitated from spirit by water. The flowers, snuffed up the nose, are said to be a powerful erthine.
Liquid storax is a resinous juice obtained from a tree called by Linnaeus liquidambar styraciflua, a native of Virginia and Mexico, and lately naturalized in this country. The juice called liquidambar is said to exude from incisions made in the trunk of this tree, and the liquid storax to be obtained by boiling the bark or branches in water. Two sorts of liquid storax are distinguished by authors: one, the purer part of the resinous matter that rises to the surface in boiling, separated by a strainer, of the consistence of honey, tenacious like turpentine, of a reddish or ash brown colour, moderately transparent, of an acrid unctuous taste, and a fragrant smell, faintly resembling that of the solid storax, but somewhat disagreeable: the other, the more impure part, which remains on the strainer, is not transparent, in smell and taste is much weaker, and contains a considerable proportion of the substance of the bark. What is most commonly met with under this name in the shops is of a weak smell and a grey colour, and is supposed to be an artificial composition.
Liquid storax has been employed chiefly in external applications. Among us, it is at present almost wholly in disuse.