16 



NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXIV 



cough and ulcerations of the viscera. The resin of the pine, 

 too, is far from extensively used, and that of the other kinds 

 is always boiled 3 before use : on the various methods of boiling 

 it, we have enlarged at sufficient length already. 4 



As to the produce of the various trees, the resin of the tere- 

 binth is held in high esteem, as being the most odoriferous and 

 the lightest, the kinds 5 which come from Cyprus and Syria 

 being looked upon as the best. Both these kinds are the 

 colour of Attic honey ; but that of Cyprus has more body, and 

 dries with greater rapidity. In the dry resins the qualities 

 requisite are whiteness, purity, and transparency : but what- 

 ever the kind, the produce of mountainous 6 districts is always 

 preferred to that of champaign countries, and that of a north- 

 eastern aspect to that of any other quarter. Resins 7 are dis- 

 solved in oil as a liniment and emollient cataplasm for wounds ; 

 but when they are used as a potion, bitter almonds 8 are also 

 employed. The curative properties of resins consist in their 

 tendency to close wounds, to act as a detergent upon gatherings 

 and so disperse them, and to cure affections of the chest. 



The resin of the terebinth * * * it is used too, warmed, 

 as a liniment for pains in the limbs, the application being re- 

 moved after the patient has taken a walk in the sun. Among 

 slave-dealers too, there is a practice of rubbing the bodies of 

 the slaves with it, which is done with the greatest care, as a 

 corrective for an emaciated appearance ; the resin having the 

 property of relaxing the skin upon all parts of the body, and 

 rendering it more capable of being plumped out by food. 9 



Next after the resin of the terebinth comes that of the 



3 Boiled terebinthine, or turpentine, is still used, Fee says, in medicine ; 

 that process disengaging the essential oil. 



4 In B. xvi. c. 22. 



5 Fee thinks that in reality these are terehinthines, and not resins. 



6 It has been generally remarked that aromatic plants grown on moun- 

 tains have a stronger perfume than those of the plains ; Fee queries whether 

 this extends to the resins. 



7 Though of little importance in modern medicine, resins and terebin- 

 thines are still employed as the basis of certain plasters and other prepara- 

 tions. 



8 Such a potion as this, Fee says, would but ill agree with a person in 

 robust health even. 



9 There would be no necessity whatever, Fee says, for such a process, a j 

 plentiful supply of food being quite sufficient for the purpose. Galen I 

 recommends frictions of terebinthine for the improvement of the health. 



