Science File -

Myrrh, on the other hand, has different and darker connotations. It is, like frankincense, a gum, which is exuded by the tree Commiphora myrrha, Family Burseraceae, which also grows in Somalia and Ethiopia. The name is derived from the Hebrew mor, murr or maror, meaning bitter. In ancient times it was sometimes worth more than its weight in gold, and in ancient Rome cost five times as much as frankincense. It has a place in Jewish tradition, as the caravan which bore Joseph to slavery in Egypt also carried myrrh and other spices (Genesis 37, 25) and was carried as a gift by his brothers when they later came to beg food (ibid 43, 11).

 Constituents include resin (myrrhin, C₄₈H₃₂O₂) and volatile oil (myrrhol, C₁₀H₁₄O), gums, sulphates, benzoates, malates, and acetates of potassium. The oil contains myrrholic acid, heerabolene, pinene, limonene, dipentene, eugenol, cadinene, cinnamaldehyde, cuminaldehyde and others unnamed.

It certainly turns up in incense and anointing oil recipes and perfumes (cf Exodus 23-30, Esther 2, 12, The Song of Solomon 5, 5 among many others) but less cheerfully, it was used to anoint corpses (Nicodemus brings myrrh and aloes to the body of Jesus in John 19, 39-40) and the Romans burned it at funerals to disguise the smell of the corpse. Greek soldiers took it into battle, valuing its antiseptic propertes; Hippocrates prescribed it for anointing sores, and Roman civilian doctors as a vermifuge and antussive. Herodotus says (Histories II, 86) that the Ancient Egyptians used it, along with cassia and other spices, in embalming. But more important, in ancient times, was its reputation as an analgesic.

 It was a Jewish custom to offer a drink of light wine, rendered acid (the "vinegar" of the Gospels) mixed with myrrh to victims of crucifixion, as was offered to Jesus on the cross (Mark 15, 23), "but he received it not". Matthew says, the wine he was offered was mixed instead with gall, [Greek chole] meaning some bitter substance presumably with similar anodyne properties. Luke does not mention any drink at all; John says hyssop (which has no analgesic properties but is held to be a stimulant) and that he drank it. As usual, no agreement between sources.

 Myrrh is still an ingredient in liniments and salves, in mouthwashes and toothpastes, and is used in the production of the liqueur Fernet Branca, famed as a digestive. An antischistosomal containing myrrh, Mirazid, has been used in the recent past although its efficacy has been questioned. Anticarcinogenic potential of the resin has been demonstrated in mice. Eugenol is the important constituent of cloves, and along with cinnamaldehyde has clinically proven antimicrobial properties; clove oil is, of course, a local anaesthetic. Recent research has also isolated compounds which show in vitro antibacterial and antifungal activities and also local anaesthetic activity (furanodiene-6-one and methoxyfuranoguala-9-ene-8-one) and also two, furanoeudesma-1,3-diene, and curzarene, with pronounced analgesic effects in mice; the latter compounds appear to interact with the opioid receptors in the brain. So its reputation was not undeserved.