Noah Webster
Galban
GAL'BAN
GAL'BANUM, noun [Heb.varied in orthography, from to milk.]
The concrete gummy resinous juice of an umbelliferous plant, called Ferula Africana, etc., and by Linne, Bubon galbanum, which grows in Syria, the East Indies and Ethiopia. This gum comes in pale-colored, semitransparent, soft, tenacious masses, of different shades, from white to brown. It is rather resinous than gummy, and has a strong unpleasant smell, with a bitterish warm taste. It is unctuous to the touch, and softens between the fingers. When distilled with water or spirit, it yields an essential oil, and by distillation in a retort without mixture, it yields an empyreumatic oil of a fine blue color, but this is changed in the air to a purple.