ON THE TURPENTINES. 
73 
more than two drops at most. Hence, it is that this resin is 
rarer than the others, and dearer." 
To finish the account of the resin of the larch, let us present 
the description given by Jean Bauhin, in his Historia Plan- 
tarum. "This resin is of the consistence of liquid honey, 
never becoming hard, of a yellow color, sometimes vitreous 
and transparent, and of a very bitter taste, moderately acrid, 
persistent, and odoriferous." 
This short description is the most exact that has been pub- 
lished; and all those who have followed it, by deviating from 
it more or less, have thrown us into confusion. Of this I have 
cited, in the Historie Abregee des Drogues Simples, many ex- 
amples which I will not repeat here. I had a long time, but 
without success, endeavored to procure an authentic specimen 
of the turpentine of the larch. Finally, in 1837, at the re- 
quest of M. Bonjean, sen., pharmacien at Chambery, the 
Bishop of Maurienne granted permission to collect it in the 
woods of his bishoprick. This turpentine, which I submit to 
the Society, is thick and very consistent, as it remains some 
moments without running, when the vessel is turned up which 
contains it; it is uniformly cloudy, as if it held in suspension 
a resin in a minute state of subdivision, but the resin is not 
deposited upon standing, and the bottom of the vessel presents 
only a few earthy particles. It has an odor entirely peculiar, 
tenacious and oppressive, but more feeble than that of citron 
turpentine, but much less agreeable; weaker also than that 
of Bordeaux turpentine, and entirely different. It has a very 
bitter taste, which is persistent and connected with great 
acridity in the throat. 
The larch turpentine for a long time preserves the same 
thick consistence, without forming in the air, and still less in 
a closed vessel, a dry and cracked pellicle upon its surface. 
When it is exposed to the atmosphere, spread in a thin layer 
upon a sheet of paper, after fifteen days the finger adheres to 
it strongly. Its drying property is then almost lost. It does 
not solidify appreciably by the addition of a f \th of calcined 
magnesia. Lastly, it dissolves completely in five parts of alco- 
VOL. VI. — no. i. 10 
