BURGUNDY AND BALTIC PITCH. 47 



sometimes quite transparent and liquid, but is more commonly iaso. 

 found opaque, and of a pale yellow colour and soft consistence. 

 By exposure to the air, it hardens and becomes of a browner tint. 

 Some of the hardened tears are internally white and opaque, 

 like drop ammoniacum, the broken surface acquiring a pink hue 

 by exposure to the air. The odour is peculiar, terebinthinate, 

 cheesy, and rather aromatic ; the taste slightly bitter. 



The article now sold as Abietis resina is believed to be AUetis 

 imported chiefly from America, and in odour and colour much renna - 

 resembles common American turpentine hardened by age. It 

 usually occurs in large agglutinated masses, whose surfaces 

 when long exposed become transparent, brittle, and of a deep 

 yellow colour. Internally, they are soft and opaque, pale yellow 

 marbled with whitish patches. The odour is that of common 

 American turpentine, though not so powerful. Some of this 

 resin appears to have exuded spontaneously, and contains 

 such impurities as small chips of wood, sticks, and leaves. The 

 leaves are evidently not those of the Norway spruce fir. 



When genuine Abietis resina is melted in hot water, strained Burgundy 

 and cooled, we obtain Burgundy pitch, as a very pale, yellowish 

 brown substance, almost entirely soluble in cold alcohol, easily 

 softening in the hand, and having a peculiar, agreeable, aromatic 

 odour. Burgundy pitch, apparently genuine, is imported from 

 Hamburg in tubs called stands, each containing about one 

 hundred pounds, but it is usually in so impure a state as to 

 require straining, sometimes a rather difficult process in- 

 volving considerable loss. It is moist, of a greyish buff colour, 

 speedily becoming dark on the surface by exposure to the air ; 

 when strained it acquires a browner hue, and is very adhesive. 

 It was formerly called Rhine pitch, to distinguish it from 

 another imported variety now seldom seen, which was desig- 

 nated Baltic pitch. 



Baltic pitch is a brittle resin, externally transparent, and of Baltic 

 a bright yellowish brown colour, internally pale buff, and very 

 opaque. Its odour is slight but agreeable, though wanting the 

 peculiarity of that of genuine Burgundy pitch. I know not its 

 botanical prigin. 



