70 



the admixture of a due proportion of powdered liquorice root, forms a good electuary.' Its use in diseases 

 of the kidneys originaliug from nlcerations and obstructions ' in those organs, is unquestionable; which is 

 perhaps more than can be said of its alledged virtues in other complaints, and of those there are many for 

 which medical writers of different ages have extolled the advantages of exhibiting turpentine. ' Cheyne 

 recommends it as a perfect cure for sciatica; but, if I may be allowed to offer the result of my own profes- 

 sional experience, its effects are in few instances successful for the removal of that tormenting disease; and 

 even those cases which I have seen cured, under the use of oil of turpentine, appeared to Ije rather of the 

 syniptomatic than of the idiopathic kind. It is reasonable to presume that the sciatic nerve, from its origin 

 and course, may owe some of its morbid affections to an obstructed ureter, as well as to a rheumatic diathesis. 

 In watching the state of the urinary excretion after the exhibition of turpentine, in more than one case 

 of what is commonly called sciatica, I have actually witnessed considerable changes produced in it, and 

 ascertained the pain about the hip to be mitigated according to the increased presumption of altered 

 action in the ureter. The eflicacy of Oleum TerehintJmi^ as a styptic has been spoken of by some prac- 

 titioners, but I have not myself witnessed any decided advantages produced by it, and, from having much 

 more reason to confide in other luedicines of that class, of late I have ceased to employ it; though, in uterine 

 discharges attending cold, enfeebled habits, the more stimulative preparations of turpentine may certainly 

 be exhibited with more safety than in the generality of diseases for which they are said to be calculated. 

 As a diaphoretic, in rheumatic and gouty complaints, there are not wanting authorities for the employment , 

 of this medicine, but, in modern practice, it is rarely resorted to. Neither have the solvent effects which 

 it has been said to produce (and which seem to have been inferred only from Avhat is known to take place 

 out of the body) on biliary calculi received much attention in the present day. In Germany, Norway, and 

 some parts of the Russian empire, the essential oil of the Pine is frequently used as a remedy for lesions of 

 tendons, and for bruises in geiieral. In England, this remedy has repute principally among farriers, but the 

 recommendations of authors so distinguished as Heister, Platner, and Plenck, certainly entitle it to juorc 



frequent trial in chirurgical cases. 



But the use of the oil of turpentine is not confined to medicine. It is much employed by the painters 

 for rendering their colours more fluid; and the concrete resins arc usually dissolved in it ^vhen they are to 

 be converted into varnisnes. 



\ ' 



t _ 



COMMON RESIN. 



fUesina arida Phiea.J 

 ResinaJIava, Pharm, Lond, 



/,' . \ 



^ 



' ' : I > 



M ' * M 



•\ 



Is the residuum of the process for obtaining the essential oil. This process pushed as far as the nature of 



...» 



the substance will admit of changes the colour to a deep brown or black, when the resin acquires the 

 name of 



■^,^ 



BLACK RESIN, or COLOPHONY. 



m 



Resina nigra. 



', 



The medicinal properties of these two kinds of resin are, of course, extremely similar. They arc rarely 

 used internally, but for external pm'poses (particularly as plasters) they can scarcely he dispensed with. 



* The best formula for preparing sucli an electuary is given in the pharmacopoeia of Stockholm, which directs half an ounce of the oil to be 

 mixed with one ounce of the best honey and as much liquorice powder as will make the whole of a proper consistence, 



^ I remember a remarkable case of hydatids formed in the kidneys, which came under my care in the Westminster Hospital, and which was 

 very materially relieved by Oleum Terebinth'uKE given in the dose of about eight drops every four hours. The expulsion of the hydatids seemed 

 to be owing principally to the medicine, for, if the latter was omitted for a few days, the pain of the loins, dysuria^ and general distress increased; 

 and on resuming it, these symptoms were immediately alleviated whilst the hydatids were voided in augmented numbers. 



' Essay on the Gout, (ed, 10.) p. 119, 



™ I know not how this word came to be applied to the hard resin artificially extracted. It was originally the appellation of a raw liquid resin 



4 L 4 



brought from Colophon, in Ionia, which is described by Dioscoridcs, (Lib, 1, c. 77.) Galen (de Comp, Med. Lib. 7.) and Pliny, (Lib, 14. c, 20,) 

 Celsus allows the choice of cither the Resina Colophoiiia, or the Rcshm Pinea^ in the composition of his discutient plasters, Scribonius mentions 

 Colophony as a purgative, (c. 1370 



