56 AUSTRALIAN AND TASMANIAN SANDARACH. 



[3]. viii. 1,024.) " According to Gubler, the Arabs used it as 

 a remedy against diarrhoea, and to lull pain in haemorrhoids. 



The Chinese employed it (G. sinensis) as a stimulant in the 

 treatment of ulcers (as promoting the growth of flesh), as a 

 deodoriser, and to preserve clothes from the attacks of insects. 

 In Europe it is used very little in medicine. It is most 

 frequently employed as an ingredient in varnish, to increase 

 its hardness and glossiness. It is used also as a fumigant, 

 and in povs^der (" pounce") to dust over paper from which the 

 surface has been scraped, to prevent the ink running. Rarely, 

 it enters into the composition of plasters." In Southern 

 New South Wales ('Snowy River), Gallitris resin is often 

 mixed with fat by the settlers, to make candles. 



All our native Sandarachs possess a pleasant aromatic 

 odour, similar in character to that emitted by Sandarach. 



When the trees are wounded the resin exudes in an 

 almost colourless, transparent condition. It has obviously 

 high refractive power, and is much like ordinary pine resin 

 in taste, smell, and outward appearance, when the latter is 

 freshly exuding. This transparent appearance is preserved 

 for a considerable time, the resin meantime darkening a little 

 with age. Old samples possess a mealy appearance, but this 

 is merely superficial. The origin of this appearance has been 

 explained as follows in regard to Sandarach, and doubtless 

 the simple explanation holds good here : — 



" The surface of the tears appears to be covered, more or 

 less, with powder, but this chai acter is not to be attributed, 

 as alleged by Herlant, {Etude sur les produits resineux de la 

 famille des coniferes, p. 38), to the friction of the fragments 

 one against another, but, as has been ascertained by a 

 microscopical examination by Dr. Julius Wiesner (Die che- 

 misch-technisch verwendte Gummiarten, Harze and Balsame, 

 1869, p. 129), to the unequal contraction of the resin while 

 drying, resulting in a mass of fissures that forai, as in the 

 case of several kinds of copal, facets that gradually separate 

 from the mass, and constitute the "powder" of many authors." 

 (Morel, op. cit.) Evidence against Herlant's supposition is 

 also found in the fact that resins of the Sandarach class are 

 mealy while on the trees, after they have been exuded some 

 little time, showing that the appearance is brought about by 

 exposure to the weather. 



The Gallitris resins soften slightly, but do not melt in 

 boiling water, and a sample of commercial Sandarach behaves 

 similarly. In the mouth they feel gritty to the teeth, and in. 

 no way different to Sandarach. When freshly exuded they 

 are very irritating to a cut. 



Following are descriptions of actual specimens of resins of 

 different species. For the results of analyses of Sandarach 

 for comparison, see Gmelin, xvii., 429. 



