Copaiba

Copaiba, or COPAIVA, BALSAM OF, a valuable drug, consisting chiefly of a resin (resin of copaiba) and a volatile oil (oil of copaiba). It flows from incisions in the stems of various species of copaifera trees, natives of the American tropics, which belong to the natural order Leguminosæ. When these trees become old or surcharged with copaiba, it is no unusual thing for the stems to burst with a loud booming sound. The balsam has a peculiar, aromatic, but not disagreeable odour, which, however, is highly persistent, while its taste is decidedly acrid. It has stimulant properties, is diuretic, laxative, and in large doses often an active purgative. It is, however, mostly on account of its powerful action on the mucous membrane that it is used, and it is accordingly much employed in affections of the urino-genital system, in chronic catarrhs, &c. The resin itself has been found efficacious given in the form of a cough-pill. Balsam of copaiba is sometimes adulterated with castor-oil or volatile oils. The former of these is readily detected if any milkiness is produced when the balsam is shaken with ten times its volume of petroleum benzin. The volatile oils may be recognised by shaking the balsam with a little alcohol, when, being more soluble, they are removed first.