LARCH 43 



Description. A thick, mostly clear and transparent liquid of a 

 yellowish, yellowish-green, or brown color, a slightly green fluores- 

 cence, a characteristic aromatic odor and a slightly bitter but not 

 acrid taste. On carefully drying a thin layer it leaves a trans- 

 parent film. The Sp. Gr. is 1.1850 an,d the alcoholic solution shows 

 a slight acidity to litmus paper. It is completely soluble in alcohol, 

 ether, chloroform, acetone and almost entirely soluble in petroleum 

 benzin. The acid number varies from 65 to 85. The saponification 

 number ranges from 35 to 1 10. 



Constituents. A volatile oil, with a terebinthinate odor, from 

 20 to 22 per cent; laricinolic acid (crystalline), 4 to 5 per cent; a- 

 and /3-larinolic acid (amorphous), 55 to 60 per cent; resin, 14 to 15 

 per cent; traces of benzoic acid, a bitter principle and a small quan- 

 tity of unsaponifiable material. 



Adulterants. Mixtures containing colophony and turpentine 

 are said to be either mixed with the genuine article or substituted 

 for it. 



Strasburg Turpentine is the product of the European silver fir 

 (Abies alba). It closely resembles the Canada turpentine, but has a 

 lemon-like odor. It contains 24 to 30 per cent of a greenish, fluor- 

 escent volatile oil, consisting chiefly of 1-pinene; 46 to 50 per cent of a- 

 and /3-abietjnolic acid; about 2 per cent of a crystalline resin, abietolic 

 acid; 10 per cent of an amorphous resin, abiennic acid; and small 

 quantities of a bitter principle, succinic acid and a coloring principle. 



LARICIS CORTEX. Larch Bark. The inner bark of the branches 

 and trunk of Larix decidua (Fam. Pinacese). It occurs in quills and 

 flattened more or less transversely curved pieces, outer surface being 

 light to dark red ; inner surface yellowish-white to pinkish-red; frac- 

 ture short-fibrous, outer portion deep red; odor aromatic, taste 

 astringent and somewhat bitter. The drug is characterized by scat- 

 tered groups of stone cells with thick lamellated walls, the cells 

 varying in shape from branching to long spindle-shaped forms resem- 

 bling bast fibers (Moeller, Anatomie der Baumrinden). Larch Bark 

 contains 10 to 15 per cent of tannin, a small quantity of volatile oil, 

 resin and larixinic acid. The latter sublimes at 93 C., forming crys- 

 tals resembling those of benzoic acid. It is allied to pyrogallol and 

 pyrocatechin and occurs mostly in the bark of young tree*. 



Pix BURGUNDICA. Burgundy Pitch. The resinous exudation 

 of the stems of the Norway Spruce Fir (Picea excelsa, Fam. Pinacea?), 

 an evergreen tree indigenous to Europe and Northern Asia. The 

 resin is obtained by making incisions through the bark into the wood, 

 the resin exuding and solidifying; it is then collected and purified 



