126 
ON THE TURPENTINES. 
ART. XXII. — MEMOIR UPON THE ORIGIN AND DISTINCTIVE 
CHARACTERS OF THE TURPENTINES. By M. Guibourt, 
Professor in the School of Pharmacy. 
(concluded.) 
Of the Turpentine of the Fir, called Venice Turpentine, 
Alsace Turpentine, Citron Turpentine, and formerly 
Big eon* 
I think that it would be a useless undertaking to present a 
continuous historic account of the long confusion which has ex- 
isted between the fir or abies of the Latins, and that species of 
fir called picea. Jean Bauhin is the first who gave an exact and 
particular description of each of them, and who complete- 
ly distinguished between them. After him, Linnaeus ran 
the risk of again confounding them, by giving to the first 
the name of Pinus picea, and, to the last, that of Pinus 
abies. At present these two trees belong to the genus Abies, 
and are named, the first. Mies taxifolia ; the second, Abies 
excelsa. 
The fir or avet (a name derived from the Italian abeto, it- 
self coming from abies,) grows in a pyramidal form 100 to 130 
feet in height ; its branches are arranged in regular whorls, and 
extend horizontally. Its leaves are sparse upon the young 
branches, but compressed and directed in two opposite rows, 
which gives to them the appearance of the foliage of the yew, 
or the teeth of a comb : hence, the names of Abies taxifolia, 
Desf., or pectinata, D. C. These leaves are linear, flat, coria- 
cious, obtuse, or emarginate. They are shining, of a deep 
green above, whitish beneath, (with the exception of the green 
median line,) which has given a resemblance to the tree known 
by the name of silver fir. The male flowers form isolated cat- 
kins in the axils of the leaves, and are disposed in great num- 
ber near the extremity of the branches. The female flowers 
* Bigeon is the French abreviation for abiegna or abietina. 
