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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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Speaker 1: Lauren bog Obam here. If you've heard of frankensense and mirr,

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Speaker 1: it's probably thanks to the biblical account of the birth

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Speaker 1: of Jesus. According to the Book of Matthew, chapter two,

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Speaker 1: wise men followed a bright star in the east of

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Speaker 1: Bethlehem to where Jesus had been born and presented him

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Speaker 1: with gifts of gold, frankincense, and mir during the Christmas season.

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Speaker 1: Depictions of this event are ubiquitous and American culture decorating

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Speaker 1: churches and shopping malls alike. But don't let the shiny

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Speaker 1: tinsel and festive candy canes distract you from our question today,

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Speaker 1: what exactly are frankensense and mirror? Both frankensense and mirr

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Speaker 1: are derived from tree sap or gum resin and are

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Speaker 1: prized for their alluring fragrances. Frankensense is a milky white

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Speaker 1: resin extracted from species of the genus Boswellia, which thrive

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Speaker 1: in arid, cool areas of the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa,

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Speaker 1: and India. The finest and most aramatic of this species

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Speaker 1: is boss Whelia sacra, a small tree that grows in Somalia,

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Speaker 1: Oman and Yemen. These plants, which grow to a height

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Speaker 1: of about sixteen feet or five meters, have papery bark,

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Speaker 1: sparse branches of paired leaves, and flowers with white petals

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Speaker 1: and a yellow or red center. Mirr is a reddish

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Speaker 1: resin that comes from species of the genus Comophora, which

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Speaker 1: are native to Northeast Africa and the adjacent areas of

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Speaker 1: the Arabian Peninsula. Come afore Miura, a tree commonly used

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Speaker 1: in the production of mirror, can be found in the shallow,

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Speaker 1: rocky soils of Ethiopia, Kenya, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Somalia.

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Speaker 1: It boasts shiny branches with sparse leaves that grow in

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Speaker 1: groups of three, and it can reach a height of

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Speaker 1: nine feet or about three meters. The process for extracting

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Speaker 1: the sap of these trees is essentially identical. Harvesters make

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Speaker 1: a longitudinal cut in the tree's trunk, which pierces gun

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Speaker 1: resin reservoir is located within the bark. The sap slowly

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Speaker 1: oozes out from the cut and drips down the tree,

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Speaker 1: forming tear shaped droplets that are left to harden on

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Speaker 1: the side of the tree. These beads are collected after

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Speaker 1: two weeks. People in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsul

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Speaker 1: had produced frankinsense and mur for some five thousand years.

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Speaker 1: For much of this time, these Aramedic resins were the

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Speaker 1: region's most important commodity, with a trade network that reached

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Speaker 1: across Africa, Asia, and Europe. Today demand for frankinsense and

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Speaker 1: murr has subsided a bit, but numerous Chinese, Greek, Latin,

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Speaker 1: and Sanscrit texts remind us of their past importance. Frankin

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Speaker 1: sense and mur were desired for personal, religious, and medicinal use.

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Speaker 1: In a time before daily bathing, people would use the

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Speaker 1: sweet smoke from the resins to make themselves smell better.

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Speaker 1: Egyptian women would mix frankinsense ash into their eyeshadow. These

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Speaker 1: substances were also widely used in religious ceremonies and burials.

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Speaker 1: According to the Greek writer Herodotus, the Egyptians used both

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Speaker 1: frankinsense and mur in preparation of animal sacrifices and human mummies.

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Speaker 1: Jews incorporated them into their religious ceremonies by the third

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Speaker 1: century b C. And Christians by the fourth century CE.

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Speaker 1: The residents also had medical uses, and the Papyrus Ebers

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Speaker 1: from fiftd b c. E. Priests recommended both resins for

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Speaker 1: the treatment of wounds. Other ailments they were once reported

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Speaker 1: to cure included hemlock, poisoning, leprosy, worms, snake bites, diarrhea, plague, scurvy,

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Speaker 1: and even baldness. The high demand for franken sense and

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Speaker 1: murr created a booming trade in the Middle East, lasting

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Speaker 1: several hundred years in the first century CE. Around the

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Speaker 1: height of this trade, plenty of the Elder claimed that

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Speaker 1: Arabia produced approximately one thousand, six hundred and eighty tons

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Speaker 1: about fifteen hundred metric tons of frankincense and around four

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Speaker 1: hundred and forty eight tons or four hundred metric tons

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Speaker 1: of murr each year. One of the most important trade

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Speaker 1: centers surrounded an oasis in modern day southern Oman. This

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Speaker 1: outpost exported franken sense across Mesopotamia, India, and China for

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Speaker 1: about three hundred b c E to the third century

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Speaker 1: c E. The ruins of the settlement remain as a

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Speaker 1: UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Land of Frankincense. Clearly,

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Speaker 1: frankinsense and mirr were widely available when the wise men

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Speaker 1: visited the baby Jeesus around five b C, and would

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Speaker 1: have been considered practical gifts with many uses. The expensive

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Speaker 1: resins were symbolic as well. A frankincense, which was often burned,

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Speaker 1: symbolized prayer rising to the heavens like smoke, while mirr,

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Speaker 1: which was often used in embalming, symbolized death. So scholars

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Speaker 1: think that frankinsense was presented to the infant Jesus to

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Speaker 1: symbolize his later role as a high priest for believers,

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Speaker 1: while murr symbolized his later death and burial. Frankinsense and

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Speaker 1: mirr may not be as popular as they once were,

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Speaker 1: but they're still used today in some ways that you

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Speaker 1: might not expect. Their common ingredients in modern perfumes and cosmetics,

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Speaker 1: continuing a tradition that's lasted thousands of years. Scientists are

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Speaker 1: finding new uses for the substances as well. A recent

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Speaker 1: study suggest that frankinsense or its extracts may help in

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Speaker 1: treating asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, Crown's disease, and osteoarthritis. Researchers have

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Speaker 1: also discovered possible benefits of mirror in the treatment of

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Speaker 1: gastric ulcers, tumors, and parasites. Today's episode was written by

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Speaker 1: Clute Pumfrey and produced by Tyler Clay. For more on

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Speaker 1: this and lots of other spicy topics, visit our home planet,

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Speaker 1: how Stuff Works dot com