70 
SELECTED ARTICLES. 
of old books, that the fact had been known for a thousand 
years. 
The Turpentine of the Larch. 
This resin was known to the ancients, who obtained it 
from the same countries as ourselves; for Dioscorides tells us, 
"there is brought from Sub-Alpine Gaul (now Savoy) a resin 
which, by the inhabitants, is named larica, that is to say, ob- 
tained from the Larix;" but he tells us no more. Pliny 
sufficiently defines it by saying "the resin of the larix is 
abundant; it has the color of honey, is more tenacious, and 
never becomes hardened. " But he knew very little of the 
tree, as he supposes it to be an evergreen, like the pines and 
firs. 
Galen praises highly the resin of the larch, and compares 
it to the true turpentine. "Among the resins," he tells us, 
" there are two very sweet, the first is named turpentine, the 
second, larix. And again, " we, who know that the best of 
all the resins is turpentine, employ it in the confection of 
medicines, and yet if we have only that of the larix, why 
should we not use it, as it is like the other?" Yet further; 
" we have demonstrated that the resin named larix, is nearly 
the same as turpentine." 
Finally he tells us, " the most humid (liquid) of all the resins, 
is another kind of larix, for this is, thus to speak, two-fold, 
one being entirely like turpentine, and the other more liquid, 
more acrid, hotter, and of a stronger odor." 
It may be said that it was Galen who established the re- 
putation of the resin of the larix, and who has caused also the 
confusion existing among the different products now known 
under the name of turpentine; the first, by the almost com- 
plete disappearance of that of the pistachia, which it was sup- 
posed unnecessary to procure; the second, by the idea which 
was generally spread, that the turpentine of the larch should 
be the most beautiful of Western Europe; a fact true only of 
that of the fir; hence merchants and druggists have mistaken 
the turpentine of the larch, for that of fir, and the contrary. 
