A name given to a substance which is extracted from the gum resins, by successively treating them with water, alcohol, and ether. The bassorine being insoluble in these liquids, remains mixed merely with the woody particles, from which it is easy to separate it by repeated washings and decantations, because one of its properties is to swell extremely in the water, and to become very buoyant, litis substance swells up in cold as well as boiling water, without any of its parts dissolving. It is soluble, however, almost completely by the aid of heat in water sharpened with nitric or muriatic acid.