BOTANIC MATERIA MEDICA, 333 
white color, inclining to a yellow; by age and 
cold it becomes solid and opaque, showing a 
crystalline-like fracture when broken. Odor, 
of its own kind; taste, bitter, gummy and acid 
Turpentine, or American Frankincense, con- 
tains 20 or more per cent. of abietic anhydrid 
(abietic acid crystals), formic, succinic acids and 
oil. Turpentine forms with hydrochloric acid an 
artificial camphor, which is a crystalline com- 
pound. Turpentine is a stimulant, Stringent, 
diuretic, diaphoretic and anthelmintic, the dose 
of which is 15 to 30 grains (1 to 2 grams), given 
in form of pills, and enters into the Emplastrum 
Galbani and Charta Epispastica as an ingredi- 
ent. 
Pix Liquida, Tar.—This empyreumatic Oleo- 
resin is obtained by the destructive distillation 
of the wood of the Pinus Palustris, and other 
species of the Coniferze, Tar occurs in commerce 
as a blackish-brown, semi-fluid substance, either 
in barrels or cans, becoming granular by age 
and exposure. The odor is of its own kind, 
empyreumatic, with a decided reminder of the 
turpentine; taste, sharp, bitter and empyreu- 
matic, Tar is slightly soluble in water, but 
freely so in alcohol and strong alkaline solu- 
tions. Tar contains methylic alcohol, toluol, 
xyol, mesit, cumol, acetic acid and methol, all 
of which, by distillation of Tar, pass over with 
the light oil of tar. Tar also contains creosote, 
phenol, paraffin, pyrene napthalin, chryssene, 
pyrocatechin, and resin. Pyrocatechinis a crys- 
talline substance, soluble in alcohol, ether and 
water. 
