188 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



and the other, which has received the name of Masticine, not acted upon by 

 that fluid, and somewhat resembling caoutchouc in its properties. 



Medical Properties, SfC. — Mastic is rarely employed in medicine. It was 

 at one time in some repute as an astringent and diuretic, in chronic catarrhs, 

 dysentery, mucous discharges, and cutaneous disorders, given in the form of 

 an emulsion, but is now seldom or ever prescribed. Dentists use it for the 

 purpose of filling the cavities of carious teeth; but it may be considered as 

 rather belonging to the domain of the industrial arts than to medicine. 



The wood has also been employed, and is recognised by some of the 

 foreign pharmacopoeias. It is well spoken of by some German writers, in 

 gout and in some affections of the stomach. 



2. P. terebinthus, Linn. — Leaves pinnate, with an odd leaflet ; leaflets about seven, 

 ovate-lanceolate, rounded at base. Segments of calyx subulate. 



Linn., Sp. PL, 1455; Woodville, t. 153; Stokes, Med. Bot., iv. 531; 

 Stephenson and Churchill, iii. 129. 



Common Names. — Turpentine tree, Turpentine Pistacia. 



Foreign Names. — Pistachier sauvage, Fr. ; Terebinto, It. ; Terpantin- 

 baum, Ger. 



Fig. 100. Description. — A small tree, seldom more than thirty feet 



high. The trunk and branches are covered with a dark 

 gray or blackish bark. The leaves are pinnate, and consist 

 of three pairs of ovate-oblong, entire, smooth leaflets, with 

 an odd one, all of a dark-green colour, when old, but red- 

 dish in their young state. The flowers are in large, com- 

 pound racemes. The males have a 5-clefl calyx. The sta- 

 mens are five in number, very short, with large, brown 

 anthers. The females have a trifid calyx, and a roundish, 

 somewhat triangular ovary, supporting three styles, with 

 obovate, clavate stigmas. The fruit is about the size of a 

 large pea, ovate, smooth, somewhat compressed, and of a 

 reddish or purplish colour. 



It is a native of the south of Europe, Syria, and 

 the north of Africa, flowering in May and June. 

 It is cultivated for the resinous juice it affords, 

 known under the name of Cyprus or Chian Turpentine. This is procured 

 by making incisions in the tree, from July to October, leaving a space of 

 about three inches between the wounds ; from these the turpentine exudes, 

 and runs down on flat stones placed beneath, where it hardens during the 

 night. To purify it, it is again liquefied and strained. The product of each 

 tree is very small, the largest not yielding more than about two pounds and 

 a half. This article is about the consistence of honey ; it is very tenacious, 

 clear, and almost transparent, of a whitish-yellow colour, and a fragrant 

 smell ; its taste is mild and free from any acrimony or bitterness ; it has an 

 agreeable terebinthinate odour, combined with that of citron. The nuts are 

 edible, and are much used as an article of food, more especially in Persia. 



Medical Properties, SfC. — The medical properties of this turpentine are 

 the same as those other substances bearing the same name ; and, as it is 

 very scarce, and always commands a high price, it is seldom employed. 



Several other species of Pistacia are useful ; thus the P. vera affords the 

 Pistachio nuts so much used, in the south of Europe and Turkey, in the pre- 

 paration of certain kinds of confectionary, sorbets, &c. The P. oleosa, a 

 native of Cochin-China, also furnishes nuts from which an oil is made, which 



