100 
Pine  or  Forest  Wool. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Feb.,  1885. 
According  to  Hager/  Weiss  used  the  fibre  of  the  pine  leaf  in  the 
manufacture  of  paper,  and  observed  that  those  workmen  who  happened 
to  be  afflicted  with  gout  or  rheumatism  were  relieved  by  the  applica- 
tion of  the  pine-needle  products.  Hence  their  introduction  as  remedial 
agents  into  me(5ical  practice. 
Simmonds,  in  his  "  Dictionary  of  Trade  Products,"  calls  the  article 
pine-needle  wool  or  pine- wood  wool,  a  fibrous  vegetable  substance 
obtained  in  Prussia  by  treating  the  buds  and  leaves  of  coniferous  trees 
with  a  strong  solution  of  carbonate  of  soda.  The  fibre,  so  obtained,  is 
used  there  for  u])holstery  purposes,  such  as  stuffing  for  mattresses, 
intended  as  a  protection  against  insects,  and  also  for  wadding ;  blankets 
are  made  with  it ;  and  oil  and  soap  are  also  obtained  from  it." 
Tlie  term  pine-?/?oo(i-wool  is  incorrect,  and  confounds  this  with  a 
very  different  article,  called  "  Holz-wolle,"  also  of  German  origin,  con- 
sisting of  the  pine  wood  reduced  to  a  coarse  fibrous  powder,  an  article 
which  impregnated  with  bichloride  of  mercury  . is  now  recommended 
as  an  antise})tic  dressing  in  surgery. 
In  the  Journal  d'  Agriculture  pratique,"^  there  is  an  article  by 
Professor  Charles  Morren — mainly  a  translation  from  the  Bernische 
Blatter  fi'ir  Landwirthschaft,  January,  1852,  Note  on  the  Vegetable 
\yool  extracted  from  the  Leaves  of  the  Finns  sylvestris,^'  of  which  the 
following  is  a  summary :  In  the  neighborhood  of  Breslau,  in  Silesia^ 
in  a  property  called  the  Meadow  of  Humboldt,  there  exist  two  extablish- 
ments — one  a  factory  where  the  leaves  of  the  pine  are  converted  into  a 
kind  of  cotton,  called  pine  or  forest  wool ;  the  other  an  establishment 
for  invalids,  where  the  waters  used  in  the  manufacture  of  the  pine 
wool  are  employed  as  curative  agents,  affording  relief  to  the  sufferers 
from  rheumatism.  Both  of  these  owe  their  existence  to  Monsieur  De 
Pannewitz,  inspector  of  forests  and  inventor  of  a  chemical  process,  by 
means  of  which  there  is  extracted  from  the  long  and  fine  pine  leaves  a 
fibrous  substance  called  forest  wool,  because  it  curls,  felts,  and  can  be 
spun  as  ordinary  wool. 
The  wild  pine,  from  which  this  wool  is  obtained,  is  much  esteemed 
in  Germany  for  its  many  valuable  properties,  and  instead  of  leaving  it 
to  its  natural  growth,  extensive  plantations  are  cultivated,  and  the  use 
Monsieur  De  Pannewitz  has  made  of  the  leaves  will  contribute  to  ex- 
tend the  cultivation  of  the  pine  in  other  countries. 
^  " Pharmaceutische  Praxis". 
2  Vol.  V,  1852,  p.  322. 
