26S FAMILY HERBAL. 



tfeey stand very thi,ck_, and are sharp^ or almost 

 prickly at the extremities. The flowers are yel- 

 lowish and inconsiderable ; and the fruit is a loni^ 

 and larg^e cone^ which hang^s down ; whereas that 

 of the true fir tree, or the yew-leaved fir^ stands 

 upright. 



' The tops of the branches and young shoots are 

 used: they abound with a resin of the turpentine 

 kind. They are best given in decoction, or brew- 

 ed with beer- They are good against the rheu- 

 matisra and scurvy ; they work by urine^ and heal 

 ulcers of the urinary parts. 



Pitch and tar are produced from the wood of 

 this tree, the tar sweats out of the wood in burn- 

 ingj and the pitch is only tar boiled to that consis- 

 tence. To obtain the tar, tbey pile up great heaps 

 of the wood, and set fire to tbem at top, and the 

 tar sweats out of the ends of tbe lower, and is 

 catched as it runs from them. 



Burgundy pitch is made of tbe resin of the wild 

 pine tree, which is common turpentine boiled in 

 i^atcr to a certain consistence, if they boil it longer, 

 it v.ould be resin, for the common resin is only this 

 turpentiac boiled to a hardness. 



The Amsioniacum Plant. Ammoiiiacum. 



A TALL plant, native of the East, and very im- 

 perfectly described to us. What we hear of it is> 

 that it grows on the sides of hills, arxd is five or six 

 feet high; the stalk is hollow and striated, and 

 painted with various colours like that of our hem- 

 oc. The flowers, we arc told, are small and white, 

 and stand in great round clusters at the tops of the 

 stalks, the leaves arc very large and composed of a 

 multitude of small divisions : one circumstance we 

 ;can add from our own knowledsre to this description^ 



