412 
Chian  Turpentine. 
vm  Jour.  Pharnu 
Aug.,  1880. 
night  has  somewhat  solidified  it,  from  the  stem  and  flat  stones  placed 
at  the  foot  of  the  tree  to  receive  what  may  have  run  down. 
Chian  turpentine  has  been  omitted  from  the  British  Pharmacopoeias, 
but  was  official  in  the  London  Pharmacopoeias.  Royle  states  that  it 
used  to  be  taken  chiefly  to  Venice,  where  it  was  in  request  for  making 
the  far-famed  Theriaca.  Pereira,  Guibourt  and  Hanbury  describe  it, 
and  their  descriptions  are  rather  conflicting.  It  has  a  very  firm,  honey- 
like consistence,  yet  is  slightly  brittle  and  becomes  more  so  with  age 
and  exposure  to  the  air,  and  even  then  it  always  takes  the  form  of  the 
vessel  in  which  it  is  kept.  It  is  translucent ;  small  pieces  appear  yel- 
,low  or  brownish-yellow,  but  in  mass  it  has  a  greenish-brown  color.  It  , 
has  when  fresh  a  distinctive  odor,  slightlv  like  the  pinaceous  turpen- 
tines, but  much  more  agreeable  and  aromatic,  according  to  some  resem- 
bling citron  and  jasmine  ;  but  there  is  always  a  background  smell  like 
that  of  mastic,  which  becomes  more  developed  and  distinct  with  age, 
when  it  has  lost  the  more  volatile  portion,  the  essential  oil.  Accord- 
ing to  Pereira  the  turpentine-like  odor  is  combined  with  the  odor  of 
fennel,  and  Guibourt  says,  when  kept  in  a  covered  glass  vessel  the 
odor  is  strong  and  agreeable,  analogous  to  that  of  fennel  or  the  resin 
of  elemi.  It  probably  loses  this  rapidly.  A  specimen,  bearing  Gui- 
bourt's  name,  in  the  Society's  Museum  has  now  no  trace  of  it,  but  the 
mastic  odor  is  very  persistent.  If  the  fennel  odor  be  very  evident  in 
it  I  should  fear  the  sample  was  not  genuine,  as  in  a  statement  made  in 
the  "Lancet"^  the  writer  says  what  is  sold  as  Chian  turpentine  "is 
either  greatly  adulterated  or  a  wholly  factitious  article,  manufactured 
from  black  resin,  Canada  balsam  and  the  essential  oils  of  fennel  and 
juniper."  The  taste  of  genuine  Chian  turpentine  resembles  that  of 
mastic;  it  is  agreeable  and  free  from  the  characteristic  bitterness  and 
acridity  of  the  pinaceous  turpentines. 
From  its  mode  of  collection  even  the  genuine  Chian  turpentine  is 
always  contaminated  with  impurities,  earthy  dust,  etc.  Testing  a 
number  of  what  I  have  reason  to  believe  are  genuine  samples,  as  well 
as  some  not  genuine,  I  find  they  are  all  (mechanical  impurities  excepted) 
entirely  soluble  in  ether  and  absolute  alcohol.  Still  the  genuine  oleo- 
resin,  as  stated  by  Guibourt,  leaves  a  little  glutinous  resin  undissolved 
when  treated  with  alcohol  slightly  diluted  (I  used  rectified  spirit,  sp.  gr. 
•838);  yet  this  can  scarcely  be  identical  with  the  beta-resin  or  mas- 
ticine  of  mastic,  which  is  left  undissolved  when  mastic  is  treated  even 
^"Lancet,"  vol.     1880,  p.  541. 
