THE RESINS. 



U effected through the medium of water, by which the volatile oil passes over and is 

 collected, and the resin with which it is naturally associated is left behind. 



Tar and pitch are also produced from the fir tribe of plants at the same time that the 

 turpentine is collected. The wood is cut into billets, and piled up in a hole made in the 

 ground. It is then covered with turf, or some similar covering, and set on fire. 

 During the slow combustion, the tar runs down the wood, and is collected in the dam 

 prepared in the ground for its reception. This tar contains a portion of turpentine, but 

 may be made from trees which have ceased to emit turpentine on incision. 



Pitch is obtained when the tar is distilled ; so that an inferior kind of turpentine 

 passes over, and the pitch remains, 



Resin results from the distillation of turpentine, or from the drying of the secretion 

 as it exudes from the tree. It is brought to this 

 country in large quantities from the United States, 

 Asia Minor, and other parts of Turkey. It is 

 produced from various species of. Abies and Pinm. 

 Burgundy pitch and frankincense are obtained 

 from another pine, the Abies excdsa of the north 

 of Europe, and Canada balsam from the Abies 

 balsamea. 



Lac is furnished to this country almost ex- 

 clusively by India, and amounted to 14,786 cwts. 

 in 1849. It is obtained from a great many sources, 

 but chiefly from the Coccus lacca, and some of the 

 firs, as the Ficus Indica and Ficm religiosa, or 

 Banyan tree (Fig. 75). Its varieties are known 

 by the designations of stick lac, seed lac, orange 

 and ruby shell lac, lump and buton lac, lac dye, 

 and white or bleached lac. It is produced by the 

 injuries inflicted upon the young shoots of various 

 trees by an insect, the coccus lacca, which feeds 

 upon them. It is employed in the manufacture 

 of varnishes. 



It is not possible to name even the great mul- 

 titude of members of this class, and it must suffice 

 to mention the sources of the following well- 

 known substances : 



Assafcetida is the product of the Narthax assa- 

 foetida, in India ; benzoin of the Styrax benzoin, in 

 Singapore ; copal from the Hyrnencea of Western 

 Africa, Dammara aiistralis of New Zealand, and 

 Trachylobium martinianum of South America; 

 dragon's blood from the Dracaena Draco of India; 

 (Fig. 95) ; gamboge, from Siam ; myrrh, from the 

 talamodendron myrrha of Persia, and yellow gum 

 from the Zanthorhcea hastilis of New Holland. 



It is highly probable that the magnificent gum trees of the continent of Australia, 

 which have hitherto been a great inconvenience to the settler in the clearing of his land, 

 will ere long yield gums and resins which will convert them into sources of great wealth, 



95. A younpr plant of the DRAC.ENA 



DRACO. 

 A specimen in the island of Teneriffe is 



to be very ancient in the year 1406. 



