PINUS LARIX. 
23 
Chemical and Sensible Properties of Venice Tur- 
pentine. The diflFerent turpentines reserved for consideration are 
— 1st. The Venice turpentine, from the Pinus Larix; 2d. The Bal- 
sam um Canadense, or Canada Balsum, which may be considered one 
of the purest turpentines, from the Pinus Balsamea, or Balm of 
Gilead fir ; 3d. The Terebinthina Argentoratensis, or Strasburgh tur- 
pentine, from the Pinus Picea ; and 4th. the Chian, or Cyprus 
turpentine, from the Pistacia Terebinthus (see Pinus Amentacea). 
Of the common turpentine we have already spoken, and under that 
head we noticed the different products which are common to turpen- 
tines in general, except the volatile oil, with which we shall conclude 
our history of the Genus Pinus. The peculiarities of each kind of the 
above turpentines, will be noticed under their respective species, as 
also the products which more particularly belong to each. Venice 
turpentine is usually thinner than any of the other sorts ; of a clear 
whitish or pale yellowish colour, a hot, pungent, bitterish, disagree- 
able taste, and a strong smell, without any thing of the aromatic 
flavour of the Chian kind ; in its other properties it differs little from 
these we shall hereafter notice. 
Medical Properties and Uses of Turpentine. We 
learn from the writings of Dioscorides, Pliny, and others, that' the 
ancients were well acquainted with the different products of the pine 
tribe, and that turpentine, as well as the more solid exudations, was 
extensively used by them, in the healing art ; they distinguished 
these products into dry and liquid ; " Summae species dujB," says 
Pliny, " sicca et liquida. Sicca 6 pinu et picea fit ; liqnida k tere- 
bintho, larice, lentisco, cupresso." We can readily comprehend 
that the " liquida" of Pliny refers to the liquid resin called turpen- 
tine, but it is not so easy to determine which of the solid products 
of these trees, or of the two species mentioned by him, he alludes to 
by the distinction of " sicca." Aretseus prescribed turpentine, in 
combination with rue and nitre, formed into a linctus with honey, for 
melancholia, lethargy, pleurisy, &c. ; and also administered it in the 
form of eneraa> for cephalea and volvulus, and as an external 
application in phrenitis and tetanus ; it was likewise one of the reme- 
dies resorted to by the Egyptians, as we learn from Prosper Alpinus. 
In the present day turpentines are but rarely administered internally, 
as the essential oil is justly preferred to the crude substance. Taken 
internally they are active stimulants, open the bowels, and increase 
the secretion of urine, to which they give a violet smell ; they are 
very quickly taken up by the absorbents, and au external application 
produces the same effects on the urine as if the substance had been 
