52 VEGETABLE DRUGS WITHOUT ORGANIC STRUCTURE. 



A transparent, amber-colored substance, hard, pul- 

 verizable; fracture glassy and shallow conchoidal; odor 

 and taste faintly terebinthinate. 



The better kinds of colophonium are yellowish to 

 brown, transparent, breaking with a very splintery, 

 shallow and conchoidal fracture. It melts at about 90° 

 to 100° C. The pieces vary in shape and size. The 

 inferior grades vary from greenish, brownish to blackish 

 red. These shades are due to the heat of distillation, 

 and in part to the species of pine yielding the resin. 



Rosin is soluble in alcohol, acetone, ether, chloroform, 

 CS2, which solutions show a mild fluorescence and chloral 

 hydrate. With solution of KOH and NaOH it forms 

 rosin soaps. Taste and odor terebinthinate. 



Colophonium is derived mainly from Pinus palustrts, 

 Miller, and other species of pine, found largely in the 

 United States. 



Chemistry. — A certain amount of residual turpentine 

 is always present and generally a small percentage of 

 water. It also contains pinic and sylvic acids, and the 

 anhydride of abietic acid (C^Ji^fi^), which latter is the 

 most important ingredient. 



By dry distillation a large number of products are 

 obtained, one of the many being a resin oil, Harzol, con- 

 sisting of methyl alcohol and a hep tan, C^H^g, with other 

 derivatives. 



DAMMAR. 



Dammar is a resinous exudation or a mixture of resins 

 from a vast variety of sources. That which is usually 

 found in the European and American markets is derived 

 from Dammar a officinalis, Lamb., or Agathis Dammara, 

 Rich., a member of the AbietinecB, a native of Molucca 

 and East Indian Islands, also of the PhiHppines and New 

 Zealand.* 



* Concerning the many doubts which have been raised regarding 

 the origin of this resin consult Wiesner: Die Rohstoffe des Pflanzen- 

 reichs, new edition, p. 253, 



