growing in Arabia and
Abyssinia, is supposed to be the balm of Scripture and the [Greek:
balsamon] of Theophrastus. When fresh it is a viscid fluid, with a
penetrating odour, but it solidifies with age. It was regarded with the
utmost esteem among the nations of antiquity and to the present day it is
peculiarly prized among the people of the East. For _balsam of copaiba_ see
COPAIBA. Under the name of _wood oil_, or _Gurjun balsam_, an oleo-resin is
procured in India and the Eastern Archipelago from several species of
_Dipterocarpus_, chiefly _D. turbinatus_, which has the odour and
properties of copaiba and has been used for the same purposes. Wood oil is
also used as a varnish in India and forms an effective protection against
the attacks of white ants. _Canada balsam_ or _Canada turpentine_ is the
oleo-resin yielded by _Abies balsamea_, a tree that grows in Canada and the
northern parts of the United States. It is a very transparent substance,
somewhat fluid when first run, but thickening considerably with age,
possessed of a delicate yellow colour and a mild terebinthous odour. It
contains 24% of essential oil, 60% of resin soluble in alcohol, and 16% of
resin soluble only in ether. Its chief uses are for mounting preparations
for the microscope and as a cement for glass in optical work.

The garden balsam is an annual plant, _Impatiens balsamina_, and the balsam
apple is the fruit of _Momordica balsamina_, nat. order Cucurbitaceae.

BALSHAM, HUGH DE (d. 1286), English churchman, appears first as sub-prior
of the monastery of Ely. On the death of William of Kilkenny in 1256 the
monks elected him bishop of Ely, to the annoyance of Henry III. who had
handed over the temporalities of the see to John de Waleran. The election
was confirmed by the pope in 1257 and Hugh set to work to repair the harm
done to the diocese by the intruder. In 1280 the bishop obtained a charter
allowing him to replace the secular brethren residing in his hospital of St
John at Cambridge by "studious scholars"; a second charter four years later
entirely differentiated these scholars from the brethren of the hospital,
and for them Hugh de Balsham founded and endowed the college of Peterhouse.

BALTA, a town in the Russian government of Podolia, between the Dniester
and the Bug, 131 m. by rail N.N.W. of Odessa. It carries on a large trade
in cattle, horses and grain, and has two annual fairs, held at Whitsuntide
and in June. A variety of industri