Medical Botany. 377 



off singly, in small pots, as soon as up; then placing them in a hot-bed 

 frame, and, as the pots fill with roots, shifting them in larger ones, keeping 

 them in continual growth till they flower." — Rose Incomparable Ranun- 

 culus. Handsomely-formed flowers, white edged with bright rose, inclining 

 to crimson. From the collection of Mr. Jabez Gibson, of Saffron Walden. 

 — Dry's Earl of Uxbridge Pink. Large, and very handsome. From the 

 collection of Mr. Hogg, of Paddington. — Rose Juno Tulip. Handsomely 

 cupped, but small. From the collection of J. P. Burnard, Esq., of Formosa 

 Cottage, Holloway, who possesses a choice collection of tulips. 



Medical Botany, &c. By John Stephenson, M.D., and James Morss 

 Churchill, Esq., Surgeon. In 8vo Numbers, monthly. 5s. 6d. 



N^o. XIX. for July, contains 



73 to 76. — Pinus sylvestris, P. balsamea, P. J'bies, and P. Larix, 

 Most species of Pinus may be made to yield turpentine, though the true 

 turpentine is obtained from Pistacia Tereblnthus, and is known in the shops 

 as Cyprus and Chio turpentine. 



Common turpentine is the produce of the Scotch pine. Trees with the 

 thickest bark, and which are most exposed to the sun, generally yield the 

 most turpentine ; a wound is made in the tree 3 in. square, by 1 in. deep. 

 The first incision is made near the foot of the tree, and as the resin flows 

 most abundantly in hot weather, the operations are begun about the end of 

 May, and continued to September. The juice is received into holes dug in 

 the ground, is afterwards taken out with iron ladles, poured into pails, and 

 removed to a hollow trunk, capacious enough to hold three or four barrels. 

 This, though inferior to that of the Pistacia, larch, and silver fir, is too 

 often substituted for the others by druggists. — Essential oil of turpentine is 

 obtained by distillation. ^- Common resin is the residuum of the process for 

 obtaining the essential oil. — Tar is obtained from the roots and other parts 

 of old trees by a sort of distillatio per descensum. It differs from the native 

 resinous juice in having acquired an empyreumatic quality from the action 

 of fire ; and in containing the saline and mucilaginous parts of the tree, 

 mixed with the extractive and the oily. Tar, imported from the Baltic, is 

 the produce of the Scotch pine, but that from America is chiefly obtained 

 from the Pinus australis. 



The substances above are officinal ; but, as the produce of Pinus sylves- 

 tris, we have also : — 



1. Pitch, which is made by melting coarse hard resin, with an equal quan- 

 tity of tar, in large copper vessels. 



2. Lampblack, to obtain which, a sort of box is made, nicely closed in 

 every part, with the exception of some holes in the top, which are covered 

 with a kind of linen cone. At a little distance from the box a furnace is 

 constructed, with a very small mouth, and the inferior part communicating 

 with the inside of the box by a horizontal chimney. Into this furnace are 

 put the dregs and coarser parts left in the preparation of tar ; and in pro- 

 portion to the consumption of these, a supply is kept up, so as to furnish 

 a constant draught of smoke into the box. The smoke goes chiefly into 

 the cone, where it deposits its soot, or lampblack, which is employed al- 

 most exclusively in printing and dying. 



3. Bark Bread. We are informed by LinnaBus, that the Laplanders eat, 

 during a great part of winter, a preparation of the inner bark of the pine, 

 which they call bark bread. This substance is made in the following man- 

 ner, viz. after a selection of the tallest and least ramose trees (for the dwarf 

 branching ones contain too much resinous juice), the dry, scaly, external 

 bark is carefully taken off, and the soft, white, fibrous matter collected and 

 dried. The time of the year chosen for this process is when the alburnum is 

 soft, and easily separates from the wood by gentle pulling, otherwise too 



