AmiuTSI:T8h95!■m•}    Notes  on  Some  Saps  and  Secretions.  409 
trails,  Michx.).  The  tar  obtained  in  Europe  is  generally  considered 
superior  to  that  of  America.  The  imports  of  tar  into  the  United 
Kingdom  were,  in  1892,  132,000  barrels,  and  in  1893,  102,216  bar- 
rels, of  about  30  gallons  each.  Tar  acts  as  a  stimulant,  diuretic 
and  diaphoretic,  but  is  not  much  employed  in  medicine.  It  may  be 
used  internally  in  chronic  catarrhal  affections,  and  complaints  of  the 
urinary  passages,  also  for  some  chronic  skin  diseases.  Tar  water 
used  to  be  popular  in  England  as  a  medicinal  drink,  and  in  France 
in  most  of  the  Duval  and  other  cheap  restaurants,  gallons  of  u  Eau 
de  Goudron  "  are  drank  daily. 
A  kind  of  barrillin  is  prepared  from  the  cambium  sap  of  this 
pine.  An  oily  substance,  called  "  fir-wool  spirit,"  has  been  intro- 
duced from  Germany,  recommended  for  external  use  in  rheumatism, 
neuralgia,  etc. 
P.  Larix,  Lin.,  Abies  Larix,  Lamarck.,  Larlx  Enropcea,  Dec. — Larch 
bark  is  considered  to  be  stimulant,  astringent  and  diuretic.  This 
tree  furnishes  Venice  turpentine,  the  properties  and  uses  of  which 
are  the  same  as  those  of  the  other  turpentines. 
P.  nigra,  Ait.,  when  tapped,  yields  the  essence  of  spruce,  an  infu- 
sion of  which,  with  the  leaves  and  branches,  in  water,  sweetened 
with  molasses,  makes  the  chowder,  or  black  beer,  used  by  the  fish- 
ermen of  Newfoundland  as  an  antiscorbutic. 
P.  Plcea,  Du  Roi,  P.  Abies,  Lin. — The  resinous  exudation  from 
the  spruce  fir,  commonly  known  as  Burgundy  pitch,  is  obtained 
chiefly  in  Finland  and  the  Black  Forest.  It  is  a  useful  application 
as  a  plaster  to  the  chest  in  chronic  coughs  and  other  pulmonary 
affections,  to  the  loins  in  lumbago,  and  to  the  joints  in  rheumatism. 
P.  Taeda,  Linn. — The  oldfield,  or  frankincense,  a  fine  American 
pine,  furnishes  similar  products  to  P.  sylvestris  and  P.  Australls.  It 
yields  turpentine  in  good  quantity,  though  of  inferior  quality,  and 
exudes  much  resin. 
P.  Teocot,  Schlecht. — The  Brea  turpentine  produced  resembles 
that  of  Bordeaux.  It  yields  17  per  cent,  of  essential  oil.  The  tree 
abounds  in  the  mountains  that  surround  the  valley  of  Mexico,  and 
in  some  other  localities  in  that  country.    Its  local  name  is  Ocoto. 
Plstacla  Lentlscus,  Lin. — This  and  P.  Atlantlca  furnish  the  gum 
resin  of  commerce  known  as  mastic.  The  largest  consumption  is 
in  the  east  of  Europe,  where  it  is  universally  chewed  like  chicle 
gum  in  America,  and  thence  derives  its  popular  name.    The  women 
