11 



narrow end of which are put some shoots of the same tree, and then this funnel is filled with the resinous 

 juice which has been collected; the juice gradually flows through, and the extraneous matter remains enve- 

 loped m the shoots. This is said to be the only preparation used previous to sale. Very little resin is 

 collected by incisions in the bark of Vinus Picea, the great supply being from the vesicles, which may be 

 distinguished from those often formed in the pores of P. Abies by the juice of the former remaining clear and 

 transparent like mastic, whereas that of the latter, in thickening, becomes opake like frankincense. The 

 vesicles found under the bark of P. Picea are sometimes round, and sometimes oval, but it is remarkable that 

 in the latter case the longest diameter is always horizontal, and never perpendicular. In places where the 

 trees appear to be rich and the soil substantial, liquid resin is collected twice in the year, namely, in spring 

 as well as in autumn, but no tree produces vesicles more than once during the ascent of the sap; in poor soils 

 indeed vesicles are produced only in the spring. 



The trees begin to yield a moderate ^quantity of resin as soon as they are three inches in diameter, and 

 continue to do so until they are increased to a foot; at this period, the wounds made in the bark form hard 

 and horny scales; the woody part continuing to enlarge forces the bark, which is hard and incapable of 

 extension, to crack open, and in proportion to the increase of size in the tree, this bark, which, when the 

 latter was young, did not acquire greater thickness than a quarter of an inch, at length grows to an inch and 

 a half, and then it yields no more vesicles. , 



Lewis says that the Strasburgh turpentine is procured both from the silver and from the red fir, by cutting 

 out, successively, narrow strips of the bark, from as high as a man can reach to within two feet of the 

 ground;' but we are informed by Duhamel (from whose work the above account is principally taken) that 



this practice is confined to Pinus Abies. 



The uses to which the liquid resin of the silver fir is applied are, for the most part, so similar to those 

 mentioned under the head of Resina liquida larigna, that we shall not detain the reader with any account of 



them in this place. 



Xw 



* r^ 



THE BALM OF GILEAD FIR. 



■ ( r 



> J- " H 



LIQUID RESIN. 



(Resina liquida bahamea.) 



Balsamiim Canadense. Pharm. Lond. et Ed. 



Beaum blanc de Canada, of the French. 



4 



Canada balsam. 



* ■_ 



\ -=- 



\ - 





O 



* ^ r 



.a 



n - - - 



This is a transparent whitish juice, brought to this country from Canada, and apparently not very difFerent 

 in its qualities from the celebrated Balm of Gilead,' so high in esteem among the eastern nations, and so 

 Mrongly recommended in a variety of complaints. Hitherto, however, it has not been much employed in 

 England yet it is thought capable of answering all the purposes for which the Copaiva balsam is employed, 

 and would therefore deserve a more general trial. It has an agreeable odour, and a strong, pungent taste. 



THE NORWAY SPRUCE FIR. 



CONCRETE RESIN. 



■ r ~ 



(^Resina concreta abiegna.J 



Thus: Haller. St. Helv. 2. p. 313. 



r 



Poix, of the French. 



This substance spontaneously exudes from the pores of the tree, and soon concretes into distinct d™ps, 

 or tears, which differ from the produce of the Silver Fir in being compact, opake, and of a deeper yellow 



I 



• j)/a^3/t'(/. (Ed. 4.) Vol. II. p. 417. , 



. ^-; 7 • .^A r.ra\yAh\v thQ Balsamum Judaicum, Syriacum, h Mecca, Opohalmmum, &c. of tlie older writers. 



2 R 



\ 



