50 BURGUNDY PITCH. 



1867. Where then is true Burgundy Pitch manufactured? Is it 

 actually met with in commerce ? By what characters may we 

 judge of its purity ? 



The authors of the British Pharmacopoeia mention it as a 

 production of Switzerland, where the Spruce Fir is certainly 

 found in great abundance. But I have it upon excellent autho- 

 rity, that of my friend Dr. Fliickiger of Bern, that at the 

 present time no terebinthinous resins are collected in Switzer- 

 land for commercial purposes. Neither is true Burgundy Pitch 

 produced in France, as its name would seem to indicate, Pinus 

 maritima, Lamb., being in fact the only tree the resin of which 

 is collected in that country as an industrial product. 1 



Knowing these facts and having failed to gather any precise 

 information from pharmacological writers as to the districts 

 where the resin of the Spruce Fir is an object of industry, it 

 was with some interest that I examined the various collections 

 of forest-products in the French Exhibition. Nor was I dis- 

 appointed, for among the contributions from Finland, I discovered 

 a suite of specimens illustrating this very subject. Baron Linder, 

 of Svarta, near Helsingfors, is the exhibitor of the resin of the 

 Spruce Fir in two forms, namely : 



Baron 1. The crude resin as exuded from the trunk of the tree and 

 louder, dgggribed i n the following words : " Barras ou gomme concrete, 

 adherente aux sapins (Pinus Abies). Produit brut servant a la 

 fabrication de re'sine, etc. etc. Prix 12 francs les 100 kilogr." 



2. The resin purified by melting in contact with the vapour 

 of water, and straining. It is thus described on the label attached 

 to the specimen : " RSsine jaune cuite (a vapeur d'eau a chaleur 

 mode're'e) de barms de sapin (Pinus Abies). Prix 40 francs les 

 100 kilogr. : production annuelle 35,000 kilogr." 



1 The name Burgundy Pitch seems in fact to be a complete misnomer, no 

 such substance having been ever produced in Burgundy. Pomet, writing 

 in 16.94, thus speaks of " Poix grasse ou Poix blanche ou Poix de Bour- 

 gogne " . - 



" On fait fondre le Galipot avec tant soit peu d'huile de Terebenthine, et 

 de la Terebenthine commune, et ensuite c'est ce que nous appelons Poix 

 grapse, ou Poix blanche de Bourgogne, a cause que Ton pretend que la 

 meilleure et la premiere s'est faite a saint Nicolas en Lorraine : ce qui est 

 tout le contraire d'aujourdTmi ; car la meilleure Poix grasse vient de Hol^ 

 lande et de Strasbourg, d'oii nous la faisons venir." 



