yellow colour. The common frankincense of the shops is probably no other than this resin, or, at least, the
hitter is in General mixed with the former, and becomes an ingredient in the Emplastrum Tlmris compositum,
and Empl. Ladani compositum, of the London Pharmacopoeia, applications employed as corroborants and
constrineents, but useful chiefly from their mechanical properties, by which considerable support is afforded
to the integuments whereon they are laid.
B O I L E D R E S IN .
( Resina abiegna coda).
Piv Burgundica, Pharm. Loud. Sec.
Poix-grasse, of the French.
Burgundy Pitch.
T his substance is of a close consistence, but rather soft, of a reddish brown colour, and not unpleasant
smell. The shops are supplied with it chiefly from Saxony, where, however, many adulterations take place,
and in this country, it is to be suspected that a preparation of the common turpentine is sometimes substituted
for it.
The genuine Burgundy Pitch is prepared from the resinous juice of the Norway Spruce, which is yielded
by that tree from the month of April to September, from the effect of incisions made in the bark. In the
operation of cutting, the wood is left untouched, for the juice exudes chiefly from between the bark and the
wood, and in small quantities from the former alone, but not at all from the latter. It fixes almost immediately
after it is freed from its lodgments, and therefore does not flow to the ground, but remains attached
to the tree in large tears, or flakes. This concrete matter is collected once in a fortnight, by detaching it
with an instrument formed on one side like an axe, and on the other like a gorget. With this instrument
also the incision is renewed every time that the resin is collected. The resin of young Spruces is softer than
that of old ones, but it is never fluid, except in hot countries, and under considerable exposure to the sun;
and even in those circumstances it has not the S3me liquidity as that of the Pines properly so called. In
forests impenetrable to the rays of ihe sun, the incisions are usually made on the south side, but in different
situations this is not always the practice; the side most exposed to rain is never subjected to incisions. If
only one incision be made in a spruce, there will be a supply of resin from twenty-five to thirty years. A
vigorous tree, planted in a good soil, will yield in one year thirty or forty pounds of juice. lhis juice
becomes dry enough to be put into sacks, and is thus conveyed by the peasants to places where the following
process is carried on, viz. The resinous substance is put, with a proper quantity of water, into large boilers;
a moderate fire melts it; it is then strained, under a press, through strong, close cloths, into barrels, to be
transported to any distance. It is rarely cast into loaves, because these would be melted by a low degree
of heat, and easily put out of shape.
The above is the mode practised in the neighbourhood of Neufchatel,1 but it is different in other places,
as will be seen by consulting Axtius,7 Geoflroy/ See.
Burgundy pitch is employed only externally. Formerly, it was an ingredient in a great variety of ointments
and plasters, but at present, its use is confined by the London College to the Emp last rum Cumini, and
to another which takes its name from this resin, viz. the Empl. Picis Burgundicce compositum. It forms a warm,
stimulant application, and sometimes creates even vesications, though, in general, a redness of the part, with
a gentle exudation, is the only effect observable. The cases in which the Empl. Picis Burg. comp, seems to
produce most good are those which may be called nervous dyspnoea; but it is serviceable likewise in coughs,
pains of the muscular parts of the chest, and some affections of the trachea occasioning loss of voice. It
should be renewed once in three or four days, and so continued for a fortnight or longer.
cap. 70.) pine resin was often substituted for it: and the substance now bearing that name in the shops is seldom any other than the concrete
resin described above. Dioscorides describes a mode of distinguishing the two kinds. “ Resin (of the Pine) says he, when thrown into the fire
“ dissipates itself in smoke, whereas frankincense burns with a brisk flame, and the odour of the latter serves to detect imposition. Some writers
are of opinion that the genuine A.pava«, Thus, or Frankincense, is obtained from Juniperus Lycia, and constitutes the Olibanum of our shops, but
I cannot find any passages in ancient authors sufficiently precise to corroborate this conjecture.
' Duhamel. Tom. i. p. 15. 7 Tract, de Arb. coni/’, p. 79- Mat. Med. T. 3. p. 437.
T Iie effluvia of ill« Norway Spruce are supposed to effect a salubrious impregnation and coolness of the
air, on which account, it is usual in Sweden, to cut the branches into pieces of about half a finger’s length,
and strew them on the floors of apartments tenanted by invalids.' Jonston in his Dendrogmphia, speaks of
the wholesomeness of walking in groves of Pines; and Linmeus informs us that the Laplanders apply the
young shoots to the head, for the removal of pains in that part."
THE WHIT E SPRUCE FIR.
S P R U C E B E E R .
( Decoct urn Abietis compositum).
T h is drink seems to be the best of any that is made from parts of firs or pines, being not only most agreeable
to the palate, but also most answerable to the indications of cure in those complaints for which decoctio
and infusions of cones, tops, leaves, &c. of various species, have been prescribed. The Decodum Turionum
Pini, the Essentia Abietis (of the Augustan college) and other forms prescribed for the prevention and removal
of scurvy, will probably soon give way entirely to the American Spruce beer, the mode of preparing which
we shall extract from the valuable French writer, of whose work we have availed ourselves so much already.
To make a cask of Spruce beer, there ought to be a boiler large enough to hold one-fourth more. This
is to be filled with water, and as soon as the latter begins to boil, a bundle of Spruce branches broken into
pieces is to be thrown into the boiler; the bundle should be about twenty-one inches round, at the place of
ligature. The water is to be kept boiling until the rind becomes easily detachable from the branches, and
whilst this process is going on, a bushel of oats are to be roasted several times over in a large iron pan, and
fifteen sea-biscuits, or, instead of these, twelve or fifteen pounds of bread cut into slices, should be well
browned, to be mixed altogether with the liquor in the boiler. The branches of Spruce are then to be taken
out, and the fire extinguished. The oats and bread fall to the bottom. The leaves, &c. floating on the surface
of the liquor being skimmed off, six pints of molasses, or coarse syrup of sugar, or, in default of these, twelve
or fifteen pounds of brown sugar are to be added. This mixture should be immediately turned into a fresh
port-wine cask, and, if it be intended to give a colour to the beer, the dregs, anti from five to six pints of
the wine, may be left in the cask. Whilst the liquor remains tepid, half a pint of yeast must be added,
and briskly stirred about, in order to incorporate it well with the decoction, after which the cask is to be
filled up to the bung-hole, and the latter left open. The liquor will ferment and throw off a good deal
of excrementitious matter; in proportion to the quantity that works out, the cask is to be replenished with
some of the same decoction kept apart for the purpose. If the bung-hole be stopped at the end of twenty-
four hours, I In* spruce remains sharp like cyder; but if it be intended to drink it softer, the bung must not
be put in until the fermentation is over, taking care to replenish the cask twice a day.
The writings of physicians and voyagers abound with testimonies of the antiscorbutic virtues of Spruce-
beer, the reputation of which seems now to be so general and so well founded that it is wholly unnecessary
to dwell on this subject. The beverage has not only its wholesomeness, but becomes pleasant to the palates
of most persons who have habituated themselves to its use. From its refreshing and strengthening qualities,
it is very generally had recourse to as a common drink during the heats of summer, and is considered
a Murray, Vol. I. p. 29- b Flora Lapp. (Smith’s Edit.) p. 287.
c The reader may consult also the description given by Kalm, in the Trans, o f the Acad, o f Sc. o f Stockholm for 1751, p. 19 0 . This traveller's
countryman, Dr. Arvid Faxe, published a mode of making this sort of drink from the Scotch Fir, which, as well as many other species of Pinus,
may, no doubt, be made to answer where the Spruce firs arc not to be found. Duhamel thinks that juniper may be substituted for spruce.
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