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from which these substances are respectively procured. The processes themselves are also somewhat 

 different among different nations. We shall content ourselves in this treatise with pointing out tliosc species 

 which have been generally considered as most proper for the several purposes, and, in regard to the pro- 

 cesses, confine ourselves to those which appear best suited to their respective objects. 



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Medicinal Projycrties of Terehinthinate Substances in general. 



Terehinthinate substances, when taken internally, seem to warm the viscera, raise the pulse, and impart 

 additional excitement to the whole vascular system; applied externally, they inci'case the tone of the part, 

 counteract indolence of action, and deterge, as it were, ill-conditioned ulcers. Internal ulcerations indeed, 

 especially in the urinary passages, as well as laxities of the seminal and uterine vessels, are supposed to be 

 diminished by the exhibition of preparations of this nature. They certainly seem to act in a pecidiar manner 

 on the urinary organs, impregnating the water with a violet smell, even when applied externally.'' Most of 

 them produce a laxative effect on the bowels, when given In a certain dose. There also appears to be a 

 sort of styptic property in some preparations of turpentine, on which account recourse is frequently had to 

 these in such cases of obstinate hiemorrhage as are not attended by strong arterial action. 



Pulmonary complaints, as obstinate coughs and asthmatic affections, have been said to give way to medi- 

 cines of this class; yet, in modern practice, recourse is rarely had to them in such cases, and their exhibition 

 is even considered as hazardous. ■ - 



The ancients were accustomed to medicate some of their wines with resinous substances, the astringent 

 flavour of which was agreeable also to their palates." These wines were supposed to assist digestion, restrain 

 ulcerous and other morbid discharges, provoke urine, and strengthen the bowels; but Dioscorides informs 

 us, that they were known to produce vertigo, pain of the head, and many mischiefs not incident to the same 

 quantity of vinous liquor free from such admixtures. i 



The particular preparations of turpentine most employed in the treatment of the several diseases aUuded 

 to will be noticed under the correspondent heads, which we have arranged in the botanical order of the 

 species, and of which, therefore, the first is 



SCOTCH FIR. 



1. LIQUID RESIN. 



(^Hesina hquida pinea.J 



Terehinthina vulgaris. Dale's Pharm. (Ed. 3.) p. 278, Linn. Mat. Med. p. 153. Fharm, Lond. 

 Common Turpentine. 



y 



The Common Turpentine is more coarse and dense than any other sort, and has an opake light brown 

 colour. Its consistence may be compared to that of honey. The taste is very acrid, hot, and disagreeable, 

 and the smell much less pleasant than either the Venice or the Strasburg turpentine. It is this kind, which 

 (as its name implies) is most commonly used on all occasions Avhen a terehinthinate juice is wanted, either in 

 medicine or in the arts, and a greater variety of preparations owe their origin to it than to the product of 

 any other species of Pmw^. 



The artificial extraction of the resinous juice of the Pine seems to have been practised by the ancients in 

 a manner very similar to that which obtains at present. Theophrastus '' gives a particular account of the 



'' Kaauw de Persp. n. 430. 

 ' See Dioscorides, lib. 5. c. Z5, 36, 37, 38, 39, where he describes the Oivo; Pjit.vitji;, STjio]3iXiTn(, KsJjjivoi, n»o-a-iT)if, &c. 



* Lib. 9. cap. 2. _..,,'. 



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