250 
PITA II M A COG NOS Y. 
myrrh); when moistened with nitric acid it becomes 
purplish (distinction from false myrrh or bdellium); 
not more than 70 per cent, is insoluble in alcohol. 
Constituents. — Volatile oil 2'5 to 8 per cent. ; resin 
25 to 40 per cent. ; gum about 60 per cent. ; a bitter 
principle; ash 5 to 10 per cent. 
Adulterants. — Myrrh is frequently admixed with 
gums and other gum resins. Of these may be men- 
tioned several kinds of Bdellium which are obtained 
from various species of Commiphora, and which are 
characterized by not giving a purplish color with 
nitric acid. Some of these are: African bdellium, 
which occurs in yellowish - brown masses, that are 
reddish in transmitted light and have a pepper-like 
odor; Indian bdellium, occurring in irregular reddish- 
brown masses covered with minute spicules of resin, 
and having a terebinthinate odor and an acrid taste; 
and “opaque bdellium,” which occurs in yellowish 
hard opaque masses, with a faint odor and bitter taste. 
Bisabol, or East Indian myrrh, is exported from 
Eastern Africa and Asia; it closely resembles true 
myrrh, but is distinguished from it by the ethereal 
solution not becoming purplish with bromine vapor. 
TE ItEB I NTHIN A ( Turpentine) . 
An oleoresin obtained from Pinus palustris and other 
species of Pinus (Fain. Pinaceee), evergreen trees in- 
digenous to the Southern United States. The oleoresin 
is secreted in the sapwood and is obtained by making 
triangular incisions in the bark and wood in the 
spring; it Hows into cavities (or boxes) made lower 
down on the trunk, from which it is dipped into bar- 
rels or other receptacles. 
Description. — In yellowish opaque masses, brittle 
in the cold ; lighter internally, sticky and more or less 
