598 TURPENTINES 



V. Tar and black pitch got by subjecting the roots and 

 wood to destructive distillation. Wood wool prepared from 

 pine wood. 



I. THE TURPENTINES OR CONIFEROUS OLEO-RESINS. 



The terebinthinate juices while recently exuded are fluid, 

 or nearly so ; but exposure to the air volatilises and oxidises 

 their essential oil, and they solidify. They have a peculiar, 

 pungent, bitter taste and odour, are scarcely soluble in 

 water, partially soluble in rectified spirit, dissolving readily 

 in oils, ether, and alkaline solutions ; are inflammable, and 

 leave, when burnt, a finely-divided residue of carbon or 

 lamp black. Several of the more important varieties 

 demand notice. 



COMMON TURPENTINE is obtained throughout the Southern 

 States of America, from Virginia to the Gulf of Mexico, 

 chiefly from the Pinus Tseda, and P. palustris, australis, 

 or swamp pine, a tree sixty or seventy feet high, having 

 bright green linear leaves about a foot in length, and 

 collected into bundles like those of the Pinus sylvestris, or 

 Scotch fir, from which, throughout Northern Europe, 

 turpentine is also procured. 



BORDEAUX TURPENTINE, chiefly produced in the south- 

 west of France, from Pinus maritima and P. pinaster, is got 

 by bleeding or hacking the bark, and conducting the juice 

 into suitable vessels placed at the foot of the tree. 



Turpentine from different sources differs somewhat in 

 appearance ; the American is dextro-rotatory, the French 

 laevo-rotatory ; it is semi-fluid, its consistence varies with 

 the temperature ; it gradually solidifies from escape and 

 oxidation of the volatile oil ; it has a yellow colour, an 

 aromatic odour, and a warm, pungent taste. Unless 

 melted and strained, it usually contains impurities. Water 

 acquires its flavour, but separates only traces of its active 

 principles. Rectified spirit and ether dissolve it ; eggs and 

 mucilage form with it emulsions convenient for administra- 

 tion. The crude American variety, when recent, yields 

 15 to 25 per cent, of volatile oil. 



VENICE TURPENTINE (Terebinthina Veneta) is chiefly ob- 



