or BALSAM OF COPAIYA, is the fluid resinous exudation of various species of Copaifera, which are tall handsome trees, belonging to the natural order Leguminosae, and are chiefly natives of the tropical parts of South America and of the West Indies. The juice is properly a turpentine and not a balsam, as it contains no benzoic acid. It is obtained from deep incisions made into the trunks of the trees during the wet season, or immediately afterwards. The juice which flows from the incisions is collected in calabashes, after which the incisions are closed with wax or with clay. The balsam obtained differs somewhat in colour, consistence, acridity, quantity of volatile oil, &c., according to the species of trees from which it has been obtained, and the season of the year at which it has been extracted. Two kinds are principally met with in the English market—the Brazil and the West Indian. The Brazil copaiba, which is the most esteemed, is rather thinner in consistence than new honey, is transparent, pale wine-yellow in colour, has a peculiar resinous not unpleasant odour, and a mild, slightly aromatic, oily taste, which soon becomes acrid and bitter. The West Indian copaiba is of thicker consistence, darker in colour, is less agreeably aromatic, and has a more acrid, bitter taste. When the balsam is subjected to distillation along with water, it yields a volatile oil, which possesses all the valuable properties of the copaiba, and a resinous residue. The volatile oil seems identical in composition with oil of turpentine. Copaiba, both in its state of balsam and of essential oil, acts as a stimulant to the mucous surfaces, and is consequently chiefly employed in cases where there is an excessive secretion from these surfaces. Hence in chronic bronchitis, in gonorrhoea, and some other diseases, it is largely prescribed, and is found to be a valuable remedy—its action in some being considered quite specific. The best is the production of Copaifera guianensis, and C. Langsdorffii; the West Indian chiefly of C. officinalis or Jaquinii.