TEKEBINTHINA VENETA. COO 



TEREBINTHINA VENETA. 



Terehinthina LaHcina ; Venice Tui^ntine, Larch Turpentine; F. 

 Tirdhenthine de Venise ou de Briangon, Te'r^benthine du me'l^ze; 

 G. Venetianischer Terpenthin, Ldrchen-Terpenthin. 



Botanical Origin — Pinus Lainx L. (Lanx europcea DC), a tall 

 forest tree of the mountains of Southern Central Europe, from Dauphiny 

 through the Alps to Styria and the Carpathians, ascending to an eleva- 

 tion of 3000 to 5500 feet above the sea-level. It is largely grown in 

 plantations in England and also, since 1738, in Scotland. 



History — The turpentine of the larch was known to Dioscorides as 

 imported from the Alpine regions of Gaul.^ Pliny also was acquainted 

 with it, for he coiTectly remarks that it does not harden. Galen in the 

 2nd century also mentions it, admitting that it may well be substituted 

 for Chian turpentine (see p. 165), the true, legitimate Terehinthina. 

 Yet even in the beginning of the 17th century many pharmacologists 

 complained of such a substitution. Mattioli ^ gave an account of the 

 method of collecting it about Trent in the Tirol, by boring the trees to 

 the centre, which is true to the present day. It used formerly to be 

 exported from Venice, then the great emporium for drugs of all kinds ; 

 the turpentine may even at times have been collected in the territories 

 of the Venetian republic. -We find it expressly called Terehinthina 

 Veneta by Guintherus of Andernach.^ 



The name larch seems to belong to the turpentine rather than to the 

 tree. Dioscorides says the resin is called by the natives Xapt/ca, and 

 a similar name is mentioned by Galen. In Pasi's Tariff a de pesi e 

 niisure, 1521 (see Appendix), we find " Termentina, sive Larga," — and 

 larga is still an Italian name for larch turpentine. The peasants of the 

 Southern Tirol call it Lerget, and in Switzerland the common name in 

 German is Lortsch. 



Extraction — Larch turpentine is collected in the Tirol, chiefly about 

 Mais, Meran, Botzen and Trent. A very small amount is obtained 

 occasionally in the Valais in Switzerland, and in localities in Piedmont 

 and France where the larch is found. The resin is obtained from the 

 heart- wood, by making in the spring a narrow cavity reaching to the 

 centre of the stem at about a foot from the ground. This is then 

 stopped up until the autumn of the same or of the following year, when 

 it is opened and the resin taken out with an iron spoon. If only one 

 hole is thus made, the tree yields about half a pound yearly without 

 appreciable detriment. But if on the other hand a number of wide 

 holes are made, and especially if they are left open, as was formerly the 

 practice in the Piedmontese and French Alps, a larger product amount- 

 ing to as much as 8 lb. is obtained annually, but the tree ceases to yield 

 after some years, and its wood is much impaired in value. 



Mohl, who witnessed the collection of this turpentine in the Southern 



Lib. i. cap. 92. ^ De medicina veteri et nova etc. , Basileae, 



- Comment. inlibr.i.IHo8Coridis,Yenetus, 1571.183. 

 1565. 106. 



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