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shade alone can give. Hemlock-spruce abounds in the northern United States, 
the Canadas and British America, extending a little farther south than the black- 
spruce, with which it forms immense forests in the north. It flowers in May and 
ripens its cones in autumn, 
Hemlock bark is largely used in tanning; though inferior to oak, its greater 
abundance predominates in its favor in this country. The timber, as before hinted, 
is very coarse-grained and poor, yet in thoroughly-protected places it is very dur- 
able; in carpentry it is used extensively for joists, scantling, girders and sub- 
flooring. 
The stimulating effect of hemlock is well known and greatly utilized. A 
tired hunter arises fresh and invigorated from his bed of hemlock boughs, and 
the patient of the city physician, seeking health in our northern interiors, finds 
supreme comfort in a bath, in which hemlock leaves have been slowly steeping 
for some hours before his ablution, and quiet, refreshing slumber awaits him upon 
his couch of soft branches. A strong decoction of hemlock bark has received the 
praise of empirics and the laity as an astringent enema in diarrhoea and injection 
for leucorrhcea, prolapsus uteri, etc.; the oil as a liniment in croup, rheumatismus 
and other disorders requiring its stimulant action; and the essence as a diuretic 
and a remedy to allay gastric irritation and colic, and to correct acidity of the 
stomach. A decoction of the bark has been used to produce abortion with dan- 
gerous effects, tending toward serious peritonitis. Pregnant ewes are said to lose 
their lambs from gnawing the bark of the hemlock. 
The officinal part of this species in the U.S. Ph. is Pix Canadensis; its 
preparation Emplastrum Picis Canadensis. 
PART USED AND PREPARATION.—The fresh bark and young buds are 
pounded to a pulp and weighed, Then two parts by weight of alcohol are taken, 
and after mixing the pulp thoroughly with one-sixth part of it, the rest of the 
alcohol is added. After stirring the whole well, it is poured into a well-stop- 
pered bottle and allowed to stand eight days in a dark, cool place. The tincture, 
separated by filtering, should be opaque in quantity, and show a deep, reddish, 
erange-brown color in thin layers; it should retain the exact odor and taste of 
the bruised leaves and branches, and exhibit a strongly acid reaction. 
CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS. —Pir Canadensis (Hemlock pitch, Hemlock 
gum, Canada pitch). This substance, the prepared’ resinous exudation from the 
trunk of the hemlock, is hard and brittle in cold weather, soft and conforming in 
the warmer seasons, and melts at 198° (388.4° F.). It is of a dark yellow-brown 
color when fresh, but oxidizes and becomes almost black on exposure. It con- 
tains a resin, and a volatile oil, uninvestigated, but supposed to be similar to the 
turpentine obtained from Aédves dalsamea. 
‘Oil of Hemlock* (oil of spruce). This essential oil is obtained on distillation 
_ of the leaves, a process carried on to a large extent in some portions of the State 
_ of New York. 
oe supra, Fliick. & Han. Pharmacographia, 
