PHARMACY. 
Savine, juniper! sabiria;. Ediii. sabhiai, 
t)ub. from t!ie flower, or Iiofb in flower. 
S^ssalias, lanri sassafras, Edin. sassafras. 
Loud, from the root. 
And, turpentine, pinus picea, fiom t!ie 
resin. 
The residimm, after the oil has been 
extracted, is the officinal resin (resina flava): 
and a rectified spirit is obtained by distil- 
ling the oil of turpentine with four times 
its weight of water. 
The spirit of turpentine, as this essential 
oil has been styled, is frequently taken in- 
ternally as a diuretic and sudorific ; and it 
has sometimes a considerable effect when 
taken to the extent of a few drops only. It 
has, however, been given in much larger 
doses, especially when mixed with honey. 
H'ecourse has principally been had to such 
doses in cases of chronic rheumatism, parti- 
cularly in those modifications of it which are 
termed sciatica and lumbago j but some- 
times it induces bloody urine. 
The water employed in the distillation of 
volatile oils always imbibes some portion of 
the oil ; as is evident from the smell, taste, 
and colour, which it acquires. It cannot, 
however, retain above a certain quantity ; 
and therefore, such as has been already 
used and almost saturated itself, may be ad- 
vantageously employed, instead of common 
water, in a second, -third, or any future, dis- 
tillation of the same subject. 
After the distillation of one oil, particular 
care should be had to clean the worm per- 
fectly before it be employed in the distilla- 
tion of a different substance. Some oils, 
those of wormw'ood and aniseeds for in- 
stance, adhere to it so tenaciously, as not to 
be melted out by heat, or washed off by 
water ; the best way of removing these, 
is to run a little spirit of wine through it. 
Volatile oils, after they are distilled, 
should be suffered to stand for some days, 
in vessels loosely covered with paper, till 
they have lost their disagreeable fiery 
odour, and become limpid ; then put them 
np in small bottles, which are to be kept 
quite full, closely stopped, in a cool place. 
With these cautions, they will retain their 
virtues in perfection for many years. 
Most of the oils mentioned above, are 
prepared by our chemists in Britain, and are 
easily procurable in a tolerable degree of 
perfection ; but the oils from the more ex- 
pensive spiceries, tlioiigU still introduced 
among the preparations in the foreign phar- 
macopoeias, are, when employed among ns, 
usually imported from abroad. 
VOL. V. 
These are frequently so much adulterated 
that it is not easy to meet with such as are 
at all fit for use. - Nor are these adultera- 
tions easily discoverable. The grosser 
abuses, indeed, may be readily detected. 
Thus, if the oil be mixed with spirit of 
wine it will turn milky on the addition of 
M;ater; if with expressed oils, rectified spirit 
will dissolve tlie volatile, and leave the 
other beliind ; if with oil of turpentine, on 
dipping a piece of paper in the mixture, 
and drying it with a gentle heat, the tur- 
pentine will be betrayed by its smell. But 
the more subtile artists have contrived oilier 
methods of sophistication, which elude all 
trials of this kind. 
Some have looked upon the specific gra- 
vity of oils as a certain criterion of their 
genuineness. This, however, is not to be 
absolutely depended on ; for the genuine 
oils, obtained from the same subjects, often 
differ in gravity as much as those drawn 
fiom different ones. Cinnamon and cloves, 
whose oils usually sink in water, yield, if 
slowly and warily distilled, oils of great 
fragrancy, which are nevertheless specifi- 
cally lighter than the aqueous fluid employ- 
ed in their distillation ; whilst on the other 
hand, the last runnings of some of the 
lighter oils prove sometimes so ponderous 
as to sink in water. 
As ail volatile oils agree in the general 
properties of solubility in spirit of wine, in- 
dissolubility in water, miscibility with water 
by the intervention of certain intermedia, 
volatility in the heat of boiling water, &c. 
it is plain that they may be variously mixed 
with each other, or the dearer sophisticated 
with the cheaper, without any possibility of 
discovering the abuse by any trials of this 
kind. And, indeed, it would not be of 
much advantage to the purchaser, if he had 
infallible criteria of the genuineness of every 
individual oil. It is of as much importance 
that they be good, as that they be genuine ; 
for genuine oils, from inattentive distilla- 
tion, and long and careless keeping, ai-e 
often weaker both in smell and taste than 
the common sophisticated ones. 
The smell and taste seem jto be the only 
certain tests of which the natme of the 
thing will admit. If a bark should have, in 
every respect, the appearance of good cin- 
namon, and should be proved indisputably 
to be the genuine bark of the cinnamon 
tree ; yet if it want the cinnamon flavour, 
or has it but in a low degree, we reject it ; 
and the case is the same with the oil. It is 
only from use and habit, or comparisons 
