102 
THE PRINCIPLES OP BOTANY. 
In our botanising expeditions on the Cotteswold Hills, we 
became aware of the same fact, though this district is just 
the reverse of moorland, being dry elevated tracts on the 
stone-brashes of the inferior and great oolite^. The young 
seedlings of firs are especially noticeable in the fine domain 
belonging to Earl Bathurst, called Oakley Park, and more 
especially in that part towards the noble avenues known as 
the “ cathedral firs,” so named from the magnificent nave 
and transepts presented by the conically planted series of 
Pinus-Abies-excelsa. Bentham, speaking of the pines, 
says :— 
(e The cultivated species of this genus are very numerous, 
belonging to the four principal sections considered by some 
as genera, namely: 
“ 1st. The true pines with subulate evergreen leaves in 
clusters of from two to five, and hard cones with scales 
usually thickened at the top, including besides the Scotch 
pine the Pinaster or Maritime pine, the Weymouth pine, the 
Roman pine, &c. 
ie 2nd. The spruce firs with shorter, somewhat flattened 
leaves arrayed singly and often in two opposite ranks, and 
with thin scales to the cones, including the common or 
Norway spruce , now almost naturalised in Britain, the Silver 
spruce , the Hemlock spruce , the Balm of Gilead fir , the 
Douglas pine, &c. 
“ 3rd. The larch, with short fine deciduous leaves in dense 
clusters and small cones with their scales, and— 
“ 4th. The Cedar of Lebanon and Deodor a, with short ever¬ 
green subulate leaves, clustered as in the larches and large 
hard closely packed cones.- f Handbook of the British 
Flora,’ p. 482. 
The products of the pines are numerous and valuable, to 
say nothing of the various species as timber trees; the whole 
tribe yield very important products, amongst which may be 
reckoned turpentine, resin, pitch, tar, all of which are well 
known not only in the arts but as medicines of repute. 
Turpentine is much relied upon in both schools of medicine, 
both for external and internal use, and in good hands there 
can be little doubt of its great value externally as a stimulant 
and rubefacient, and internally as a stimulant and diuretic. 
Pereira says thus: ee on both vertebrated and invertebrated 
animals it operates as a poison. Injected into the veins of 
dogs and horses it excites pneumonia. Two drachms thrown 
into the veins of a horse caused trembling, reeling, falling, 
inclination to pass urine and stools, and frequent micturition. 
Inflammatory fever with cough continued to the eighth day, 
