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by making transverse incisions in the bark of the tree, whence the Mastick 
exudes in drops, which are suffered to run down to the ground, and after 
they are concreted they are collected for use. These incisions are made at 
the beginning of August, when the weather is very dry, and are continued 
till the end of September. 
Mastick is a resinous substance, brought to us in small yellowish trans¬ 
parent brittle grains or tears: it has a light agreeable smell, especially when 
rubbed or heated: on being chewed, it first crumbles, soon after sticks 
together, and becomes soft and white, like wax, without impressing any 
considerable taste. It totally dissolves, except the impurities, which are 
commonly in no great quantity, in rectified spirit of wine, and then discovers 
a degree of warmth and bitterness, and a stronger smell than that of the 
resin in substance. Boiled in water, it impregnates the liquor with its smell, 
but gives out little or nothing of its substance; distilled with water, it yields 
a small quantity of a limpid essential oil, in smell very fragrant, in taste 
moderately pungent. Rectified spirit brings over also in distillation the 
more volatile odorous matter of the Mastick. 
It is a common practice with the Turkish women to chew this resin, 
especially in the morning, not only to render their breath more agreeable, 
but to whiten the teeth, and strengthen the gums; they also mix it with 
their fragrant waters, and burn it with other odoriferous substances in the 
way of fumigation. It is used in Europe by japanners, in some of their 
yarnishes. 
It was cultivated here in 1004; as appears in Evelyn’s kalendar; and 
flowers in May.* The only tree which Dr. Woodville observed to flower 
in England, was a male plant in the Apothecaries Garden at Chelsea. 
This tree was nursed for some years, but at last it became naturalized to 
our climate, and stands without shelter at the entrance of that beautiful 
garden. Miller in his Dictionary says, that the Turpentine Tree, if treated 
in the same way, may be rendered as hardy. There is now, he adds, a tree 
of this sort growing in the garden of the Bishop of London at Fulham, 
against a wall, which was planted there in Bishop Compton’s time, and 
endured the winters without cover, and some plants, which even had not 
this shelter, but were planted in the open air in the garden of the Duke of 
* Hort. Kew. 
