128 
ON THE TURPENTINES. 
which composed the highest whorl, two which were little de- 
veloped had preserved their horizontal position ; two others 
had extended themselves at an angle of about ten degrees ; a 
fifth, at twenty degrees ; finally, the two last, the most vigor- 
ous, had straightened themselves, so as to approach the per- 
pendicular. Between them could be perceived the broken 
trunk ; but it was evident that as the new stems increased in di- 
ameter, marks of the broken trunk became obliterated, and it 
then appeared as if the stem below bifurcated naturally.* 
These species differ as much from the nature and position 
of the resinous juices as from their botanical characters. The 
first, as has been seen, furnishes a clear transparent liquid resin, 
which is formed in little bladders formed upon the bark of the 
young branches ; and, if incisions are made in the bark, so 
little turpentine flows out, according to Duhamel, as to merit 
no attention. t The second, on the contrary, presents very few 
vesicles upon the bark, but if notches are made into it, there 
will flow, between the wood and the bark, an abundance of 
opaque thick juice, which soon solidifies by contact with the 
air, and never runs to the ground. This resin, when detached 
from the trunk with a scraper, melted with water in a boiler 
and strained, constitutes the true yellow pitch , or Burgundy 
fitch. 
All these facts are known, in the books at least, and I have 
already avowed that I have no pretension to novelties ; but 
since many persons still attribute the turpentine of the fir to 
* I presume that it was in 1813, at the time of the defence of the fort of 
Montmelian, attacked by the Austrians encamped at Bondet , that the 
fracture of so many trees occurred. 
\ I have supposed, erroneously, (in the Hisiorie des Drogues, torn, ii, p. 
577,) that the fir produces two species of turpentine, one a clear transparent 
liquid, having a citron odor, obtained in the Vosges by puncturing the ve- 
sicles of the bark ; the other thicker, more colored, of an oppressive odor, 
very acrid and bitter, collected in great quantity in Germany and other coun- 
tries, by making incisions into the trunk. I have been led into error by 
the name of Strasburg Turpentine, which this last turpentine generally 
bears. As I have said before, it comes principally from Sweden, and is 
derived from the larch. 
