P I N U S. 
PIN'ULES, f in aftronomy, the fights of an aftrolabe. 
PI'NUS, f. in botany, the Pine, Fir, Cedar, Larch, 
See. a molt important and well-known genus of the clafs 
monoecia, order monadelphia, natural order of conifer®. 
Generic characters—I. Male Flowers difpofed in racemes. 
Calyx : feales of the bud opening, and no other. Co¬ 
rolla none. Stamina: filamens very many, connected at 
bottom into an upright column, divided at top. An¬ 
ther® ereflj naked. II. Female Flowers on the fame 
plant. Calyx s ftrobile fubovate, confifting of feales 
which are two-flowered, oblong, imbricate, permanent, 
rigid. Corolla none. Piftillum: germ very fmall; ftyle 
awl-lhaped ; ftigma Ample. Pericarpium none. Strobile 
ferves for a calyx, having before been clofed, but now only 
converging. See'd : nut augmented by a membranaceous 
wing which is larger than the feed, but lefs than the fcale 
of the ftrobile, oblong, ftraight on one fide, gibbous on 
the other.— EffentialCharacter. Male. Calyx four-leaved ; 
corolla none; ftainina very many, with naked anther®. 
Female. Calyx, ftrobiles with a two-flowered fcale; 
corolla none; piftillum one; nut with a membranaceous 
wing. 
The pine-tree was well known to the ancients, and has 
been deferibed and celebrated both by their philosophers 
and poets. Pliny enumerates fix fpecies of trees of this 
genus; and it is mentioned by Virgil, in his Eclogues, 
his Georgies, and his PEneid ; by Horace in his Odes; 
by Ovid in his Metamorphofes; by Statius 5 and by 
Catullus, See. Macrobius relates an anecdote concerning 
the cones of pine-trees, which in common language were 
called poma pine a, “ pine-apples.” There lived in the 
Auguftan age one Vatinius, who by fome means had irri¬ 
tated the Roman people fo much, that they pelted him 
with ftones. When he entertained them with gladiators, 
to five himfelf from fuch treatment for the future, he 
procured an edift from the ediles that no perfon fiiould 
throw any thing but apples in the amphitheatre. It 
accidentally happened that at this time Cafcellius, emi¬ 
nent for his wit as well as knowledge of the law, was 
confulted on the queftion, whether a pine-apple (the 
cone of the pine) was legally included in the term pomum, 
<c an apple ?” It is an apple (laid he) if you intend to 
fling it at Vatinius. A decifion by which the edict in 
his favour did not much mend his fituation: for Martial 
reprefents it dangerous to come under this tree, becaufe 
the cones in his time were of fo great a fize and weight, 
probably enlarged by cultivation for ages : 
Poma, Junius Ctjbdes: procul lane difetde, viator, 
Ne cadat in miferum nofira ruina caput. Lib. xiii. Ep. 25. 
Cybele’s apples we : fly, friend, in dread, 
Left our ripe ruin cruflt thy guiltlefs head. 
The knowledge of the fpecies of this genus, and their 
various ufeful properties, has been greatly augmented by 
the magnificent and learned monograph of Mr. Lambert, 
publifhed in 1803. Linn®us defined but twelve fpecies ; 
Mr. Lambert describes thirty-four, of which thirty are 
enumerated by Mr. Alton in the new edition of his 
Hortus Kewenfis; Mr. Purfh has nineteen in his Flora 
of North America. Thofe which are the produce of that 
country have received the molt complete botanical in- 
veftigation. The oriental ones are not, as yet, fo well 
underftood, nor are they, apparently, by far fo numerous. 
The younger Michaux in hisArbres foreftiers, in 3 vols. 
2 vo. has, it feems, criticifed inaccurately much of Mr. 
Lambert’s work, and very unwarrantably changed fome 
of his names. Thefe attacks are repelled in Mr. Purlh’s 
work. This genus is naturally divided into three fedtions. 
I. Pines. Leaves two or more from the fame fheathing 
bale. 
1. Pinus fylveftris, the wild pine-tree. Of this there 
are three varieties. 
a. P. fylveftris rubra, the Scotch fir or pine: leaves in 
two’s; cones fmall. The wild pine, called in Great 
3 
471 
Britain the Scotch fir, from its growing naturally in 
the mountains of Scotland, is common in molt parts 
of Europe, particularly in the northern parts ; and 
Monf. Duhamel mentions his having received cones 
of this tree from St. Domingo. The wood is the red 
or yellow deal, which is the molt durable of any of 
the kinds yet known. The leaves are fliorter than 
thofe of the pinafter and ftone-pine, broader, and twilt¬ 
ed. The cones are fmall, pyramidal, and end in nar¬ 
row points; they are of a light colour, and the feeds 
are fmall. In a favourable foil this tree grows to the 
height of fourfeore feet, with a ftraight trunk. The 
bark is of a brownifli colour, and full of crevices. Tiie 
leavesiffue from a white truncated little flieath in pairs; 
they are linear, acuminate, quite entire, ftriated, convex 
on one fide, flat on the other, mucronate, bright green, 
fmooth, two inches or more in length. See Botany 
Plate IV. fig. 1. vol. iii. p. 243. 
Few trees have been applied to more ufes than this. 
The tailed: and ftraight eft afford marts to our navy. The 
timber is refinous, durable, and applicable to numberlefs 
domeftic purpofes. From the trunk and branches of this 
and others of the genus, tar and pitch are obtained : by 
incifion, burgundy pitch and turpentine are acquired and 
prepared. The refinous roots are dug out of the ground 
in many parts of the Highlands of Scotland, and, being 
divided into fmall fplinters, are ufed by the inhabitants 
inrtead of candles. The filhermen make ropes of the in¬ 
ner bark : but hard neceffity has taught the Norwegians, 
Laplanders, and Kamfchatdales, to convert it into bread. 
To effedt this, in fpring they (trip oft' the outer bark care¬ 
fully from the faireft trees, and colled! the folt white fuc- 
culent interior bark, and dry it in the (hade. When they 
have occafion to ufe it, they firft toart it at the fire, then 
grind, and, after fteeping the flour in warm water to take 
off the refinous tafte, they make it into thin cakes and 
bake them. On this ftrange food the poor inhabitants 
are fometimes conftrsined to live for a whole year; 
and, we are told, through cuftom, become at laft even 
fond of it. Linn®us remarks, that this fame bark- 
bread will fatten fwine; and humanity obliges us to 
with, that men might never be reduced to the necef¬ 
fity of robbing them of fuch a food. The interior 
bark, of which the above-mentioned bread is made, 
the Swedifh boys frequently peel off the trees in the 
fpring, and eat raw with greedy appetite. See the ar¬ 
ticle Norway, vol. xvi. p. 234. 
From the cones of this tree is prepared a diuretic oil, 
like the oil of turpentine, and a refinous extra ft, which 
has fimilar virtues with the balfam of Peru. An infufion 
or tea of the buds is highly commended as an antifeor- 
butic. The farina, or yellow powder, of the male flow¬ 
ers, is fometimes in the fpring carried away by the winds, 
in fuch quantities, where the trees abound, as to alarm 
the ignorant with the notion of its raining brimftone. 
The tree lives to a great age ; Linn®us affirms to 400 
years. 
Though the different fpecies of this genus polfefs in 
common the lame medicinal properties, and agree in af¬ 
fording the different products of the. turpentine kind, yet 
fome produce them in greater purity or abundance than 
others. This tree not only furniihes mod abundantly the 
Pix liquida, or tar; but common turpentine; and the 
white and yellow refins may alfo be obtained from it. 
The manner in which tar is procured, is by cutting the 
tree into pieces, which are inclofed in a large oven, with 
a channel at the bottom. A fufficient degree of heat is 
then applied, by which the tar is forced out of the wood, 
and runs off by the channel: a procefs termed dijiillatio 
per dej'cenjum. 
Tar is properly an empy reumatic oil of turpentine, and 
has been much ufed as a medicine both internally and 
externally. Tar-water, or water impregnated with the 
more foluble parts of tar, has been a very popular remedy 
•in various obllinate diforders, both acute and chronic : 
and. 
