ON THE TURPENTINES. 
69 
a glutiniform resin. This coincidence of properties is 
remarkable, but ought not to surprise us, on account of the 
close alliance of the trees which produce the two resins. 
Thus am I entirely of the opinion of authors who are unknown 
to me, but have been frequently cited by J. Bauhin, under 
the name of monachi; these monks say that when Chian 
turpentine is not to be procured, the substance which will 
best supply its place is mastic, and notthe resins of the Con iferae. 
To finish that which refers to Chian turpentine, I shall call 
to mind a circumstance connected with the tree which pro- 
duces it. According to Theophrastus, this tree is male or 
female. With the ancients, the qualifications referred to have 
no connexion with the sex of plants, but here they are found 
justly applied. Theophrastus alone distinguishes between 
two female trees: one bearing red fruit the size of a lentil, not 
edible, the other producing fruit, at first green, then red, finally 
black, and of the size of a bean. We could with difficulty compre- 
hend, at present, the simultaneous existence of two different 
fruit-bearing trees for one sterile, if Duhamel had not given 
to us the explanation in his Treatise upon Trees and Shrubs, 
in accordance with the observation made upon the spot by 
Consineri; it is that this species comprehends three indivi- 
duals, the first male, the second female, and the third andro- 
gynous, that is to say, carrying both male and female flowers. 
The last are those producing the smallest fruit, which is lig- 
neous, and almost devoid of kernel. It is a singular concep- 
tion of nature, where an organ is fitted to be fecundated, and 
the product is arrested in the middle of its development, 
and cannot serve for the reproduction of the species. The 
proper female trees alone furnish perfect fruit, susceptible of 
germination. This fruit very much resembles the pistachia, 
and may be eaten for them, although it is less agreeable, and 
is only employed by the lower classes. I have thought it 
proper to refer to the existence of these androgynous trees, 
because no mention is made of them in the modern books, and 
once an observer, after thinking he had made the discovery, 
experienced the mortification of being shown, by a thumber 
