Am.  Jour  Pharir. 
Aug.,  1880 
Chian  Turpentine, 
4«3 
with  absolute  alcohol.  The  alcoholic  solution  of  Chian  turpentine 
reddens  litmus  paper.  The  pimaric  acid  of  Canada  balsam  is  not 
soluble  in  cold  absolute  alcohol,  but  admixture  with  other  ingredients 
might  render  it  so.  I  am  unacquainted  with  any  definite  test  for  its 
purity. 
In  judging  of  its  genuineness  we  must  rely  on  its  faste,  odor  and 
physical  characters,  as  above  described.  It  should,  more  especially, 
be  not  too  fluid.  The  drug  was  considered  by  Dioscorides  to  be 
diuretic,  stomachic  and  laxative. 
In  administering  it  for  cancer  (an  application  of  it  Mr.  Tweedy  has 
shown  to  be  not  new,^)  three  formulas  have  been  employed  by  Pro- 
fessor Clay  :  Pills,  ethereal  solution  and  an  emulsion  made  from  the 
latter.  The  pills  consist  of  3  grains  of  Chian  turpentine  and  2  grains  * 
of  sulphur  in  each.  Sulphur  is  a  novel  excipient  and  not  a  very  good 
one,  as  the  pills  lose  their  shape.  The  excipient  generally  used  and 
recommended  in  books  for  the  purpose  is  calcined  magnesia.  Three 
grains  of  Chian  turpentine  and  i  J  grain  of  light  magnesia  make  a  pill 
which  retains  its  shape  tolerably  well ;  but  it  is  perfectly  indigestible, 
barely  losing  one-tenth  of  its  weight  in  passing  through  the  body. 
Some  years  ago^  I  was  asked  to  prepare  tar  in  a  pilular  form.  The 
excipients  mostly  used  for  this — light  magnesia  and  beeswax — have 
both  the  disadvantage  of  making  the  pills  indigestible,  and  knowing 
the  peculiar  action  lycopodium  has  of  absorbing  these  oleo-resins  I 
succeeded  in  making  a  very  good  pill  with  2  parts  of  tar  and  i  of  lyco- 
podium. I  at  the  time  also  made  some  pills  with  2  parts  of  American 
turpentine  and  i  part  of  lycopodium,  which  kept  their  shape.  Chian 
turpentine,  although  harder,  I  find  requires  a  little  more  lycopodium  to 
enable  the  pills  to  keep  their  shape  ;  3  parts  with  2  parts  of  the  powder 
make  fairly  good  pills,  but  these  also  are  not  digested.  Sugar  is  a  no 
better  excipient  than  sulphur  in  enabling  the  pills  to  retain  their  shape. 
The  sulphur  pills  are  digested,  and  perhaps  no  better  formula  can  be 
devised.  With  any  excipient  the  pills  should  not  be  made  too  hard. 
I  have  seen  some  pills  of  Chian  turpentine  coated  which  retained  their 
shape  well  ;  but  1  should  be  inclined  to  doubt  their  digestibility. 
The  other  formula  used  is  an  ethereal  solution  of  i  ounce  of 
Chian  turpentine  dissolved  in  2  fluidounces  of  absolute  ether,  the 
^  *'  Lancet,""  vol.  i,  p.  582. 
■•'"British  Medical  Journal,"  vol.  ii,  1875,  P*  49^- 
