236 
EXTRACT. 
on the trees ; but they have not giver) any analysis or further account 
of it, except that the season of 1773 was less productive of manna 
than usual. Pallas informs us, that they have this manna in the 
Russian empire, but that it is rarely found concrete, being commonly 
soon washed off by the rains, which are frequent on the Uralian 
mountains. He remarks also, that the turpentine resides in the bark, 
and the wood next to it, as is apparent when the trunk of the larch 
is sawed transversely; for then it may be seen that the inner wood 
for more than half the diameter is dry. It cannot, therefore, be of 
any use to drive the auger to almost the centre of the tree, as Dr, 
Anderson recommends. 
Pallas mentions a gum that is yielded by the larch in particular 
circumstances. When the woods are on fire, which frequently hap¬ 
pens in Russia, the larches are easily burnt on the side next the 
flame to the height of several feet, on account of the turpentine with 
which they abound. If the wood happens to be scorched to the pith, 
the inner part exudes a dry, reddish gum, rather less glutinous than 
gum arabic, having a slight taste of resin, but wholly soluble in 
water. It is used in medicine; and the native mountaineers chew it 
as an antiscorbutic, to fasten their teeth, and as a substance highly 
nutritive; they also use it as a glue to fasten their bows. 
The Siberian hunters of ermines, when the ferment or yeast which 
they carry with them to make the acid liquor they call quass, is 
spoiled by the cold, scrape off the albumen or half formed wood 
between the bark and the wood of the larch, which is very juicy and 
sweet, digest it with water over the fire during an hour, mix it with 
their rye-meal, bury the dough in the snow, and after twelve hours 
find the ferment ready prepared in the subsiding faeces. 
Old larches produce a fungus, which is described very much at 
large by Jacquin, in the first volume of his Miscellanea, under the 
name of Boletus larcis. It is also called Agarcis (Agaricus) pur- 
gans, and is used in the northern countries as an emetic in intermit¬ 
ting fevers. The Funguses dye the hair of the rein-deer with this 
fungus and the roots of gallium of a very deep red colour; whence 
perhaps it may be of some use in dying. The body of this fungus is 
saponaceous, and is used by the w omen in some parts of Siberia to 
wash themselves and their linen. It was celebrated formerly as a 
medicine, but is now deservedly fallen into a total disuse. 
Bartholinus asserts that ‘The distilled water of the green cones 
takes away the wrinkles of the face, dipping cloths therein, and lay¬ 
ing them on the skin becomes a cosmetic not to be despised. 
It is an unfortunate draw back against so many recommendatory 
