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extract and retain the most pure volatile and active particles of that vegetable balsam. 9. Tar was by the ancients esteemed good against pol sons, ulcers, thebites of venomous creatures, also sor phthisical, scrofulous, paralitic andasthmatic persons. But the method of rendering it an inoffensive medicine and agreeable to the stomach, by extrae ting iis virtu es in cold water, was uni nown to them. Τhe leaves and tender tops of pine and fir arein our times used for diet drinlis, and allo ed to be antiscorbutic and diu retic. But the most elaborate juice, fati, and spirit of these eve greens are to be found in tar; whose virtu es CXtend not to animais alone, but also to vegetabies. Mn Evelyn in his treatist ora forest trees observes With wonder, that stems of trees, smeared over With tar, are preserved
cia to them. Io. It siems that tar and turpentine may be had more or lesi, Dom ali foris of pines and firs what ever; and that the native spiriis and essentiat salts of those vegetabies are the fame in turpentine and common tar. In effect this vulgar tar, whicli chea piaesi and plenty may have rendered Gontempti ble, appears to be an excellent balsam, containing the virtu es of most other balsa ms, which it easi ly imparis to water, and by that mean Sreadily and inostensively insinuates them into the habit of the body. II. The resinous exsudations of pines and firs a re an important branchos the materia medica, and not only useful in the prescriptions of physicians, but have been also thought otherwise conduci ve to health. Pli ny telis Us, that wines in the time of the old Romans were medica ted withpitch and resin; and ' Jonstonus in his, Dendrographia observes, that it is Wholesome to walh in grovesos pine trees, whicli impregnate the air Mithbalsam i
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halsamic particles. Τhat ali turpentines and resins are good sor the lungs, against gravet also and obstructions, is no secret. And that the medicinalproperties of those drugs a re Gund in tar water, Without heating theblood, or disordering the stomach, is confirmed by experienee; and particularly, that phthisical and asthmatic persons receive speedy and great relies Dom the use of it. 12. Balsams, as ali unctu ous and olly medicines, create a nauseat ingin the stomach. They cannot theresere be talien in substance, se muchor so long, as to produce ali those salutary essects, whicli, is thoroughlymixed with the bl ood and juices, they would be capable os produci ny It must there re be a thing of great benefit, to be able to introduce any requisite quantity of their volatile paris in to the finest ducts and capillaries, so as not to offend the stomach, but, on the contrary to comfortand strengthen it in a great degree.
was tar, the later or thicher running was pitch. Theophrastus is more particular: he telis us the Macedonians made huge heaps of the clovent runtis of those trees, where in the hilleis were placed erect hesi de eachother. That such heaps or piles of wood were semetimes a hundred and
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on Pliny, thin ks the pissetaeum to have been produced stom the conesos cedars. What use they made of these liquors anciently I know not: but it may be presumed they were used in medicine, though at present, for ought I can find, they are not used at all. I s. From the manner of procuring tar it plainly appears to be a natural production, lodged in the vesteis of the tree wheiace it is only Deed
running or tar was called cedrium, and was of suci, essicacy to preservesrom putrefaction, that in AEgypt they embal med dead hodies With it.
Pines and firs, when they are very old, through incisions made in thebark near the root. That pitch is tar inspissated: and both are the ollos the tree grown thicli and ripened with age and sum The trees, like old men, being unable to perspire, and their secretory ducis obstructed, they are, as orae may say, choahed and stussed with their own juice. II. The method used by our colonies in America, sor mahing tar and pitch, is in effect the fame with that of the ancient Macedonians; as appears fio m the account gi ven in the philosophical transactions. And therelation of Leo Africanus who describes, as an eye witness, the mahingos tar on mount Atlas, agrees in substance, with the methods used by the Macedonians os old, and the people of New England at this day. 18. Jonstonius in his Dendrographia, is os opinion, that pitch was anciently made os cedar, as weli as of the pine and fir grown old and olly. It should stem indoed that one and the same word was used by the anci-
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trees. Tar and ali soris of exsudations Dom evergreens are, in a generalacceptation, included under the name resin. Hata coarse resin or drypitch is made Dom tar, by letting it blage illi the moisture is spent. Liquid resin is properly an Oily viscid juice ooging from the bark of evem green trees, ei ther spontaneoussy or by incision. It is thought to be theoil of the bark insipissated by the sun. As it istu es Dom the tree it is liquid, but becomes dry and hard being conden sed by the sun or by sire. I9. According to Theophrastus, resin was obtained by stripping ossilie barli frona pines, and by incisions made in the silver fir and the pitch pine. The inhabitants of mount Ida, he teli us, stripped the trunk of the
pine on the sun ny si de two or three cubiis Dom the ground. He observes that a good piae might be made to yield resin every year; an indifferente very other year, and the wealier trees Once in three years; and that three runnings were as much as a tree could beata It is remarhable by the sameauthor, that a pine doth not at once produce fruit and resin, hut the formex only in iis youth, the lalter in iis old age.eto. Turpentine is a fine resin. Four Linds of this are in use. The turpentine of chios or cyprus whicli flows Dom the turpentine tree; thevenice turpentine whicli is got by piercing the larch tree; the Stras burghturpentine which Mr. Ray informs iis is procured from the knois of the silver fur; it is fragrant and grows yellow with age; the fourth Lind is common turpentine, netther transparent nor so liquid as the former; and this Mr. Ray taheth to flow srom the mountain pine. Ali these turpentines are u sui in the fame intentionsu Theophrastus salth the best resinor turpentine is got fio m the terebinthus growing in Syria and so me of
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gi. Turpentine is ori ali hands allo Ved to have great medicinal virtues. Tar and iis infusion contain those virtues. Tar water is extremely pectoral and reflorative, and is I may judge, Dom what experience I have had, it possesseth the most valvabie qualities ascribe d to the sevcrat haliasams of Peru, of Tolia, of Capi vi and even to the baim of Gile ad , suchis iis virtve in asthmas and pleurisies, in obstructions and ulcerous Crosions of the inward paris. Tar in substance mixed with honey I have Dund an excellent medicine for coughs. Balsams as liath been atre adyobserved a re apt to offend the stomach. But tar mater may be talienwithout offending the stomach. For the strengthening whereos it is thehest medicine I have ever tried. 22. The solly of man rateth things by their scarceness, but Provide nceliath made the most uleiul things most common. Among those liquid olly extracts froni trees and shrubs, whicli are termed balsams, and valued sor medicinal virtu es, tar may hold iis place as a most valvabie balsam. Iis fragrancy sheweth, that it is possessed os active qualities, andiis olliness, that it is fitted to reta in them. This excellent balsam maybe purcha sed for a penny a pou nil, whereas the balsam of Judea, u henmost plenty, was sold on the very spol that produced it, sor double iis weight in siil ver, is wo may credit Pli ny ; who also informs us that thebest balsam of Judea flowed only Dom the bark, and that it was adulteraled with resin and sit of turpentine. Now comparing the virtu es Iliave experienced in tar, with those I sind ascribed to the preci ous balinof Judea, of Gilead, or of Mecha as it is diverssy called) I am of opinion, that the lalter is not a medicine os more value or efficacy than the
23. Illi ny suppo sed amber to es a resin, and to disti l Dom sonae species of pine, which he gathered fro in iis smeli. Neverthelesi iis bella gdug out of the earth shews it to he a fossit, though of a veru different
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Siris. 8akind Dom other fossiis. But thus much is certain, that the medicinal Viriues of amber arc to be found in the balsamic juices of pines and fir s. Particularly the virtu es of the most valvabie preparation, I mean sali os amber, are in a great degree ans ered by tar water, as a detergent, dia-phoretic, and diu retic.
sam in ali evergreen trees, whicli reta ins the acid spirit, that principie oflise and verdure ; the not retaining whereos in sufficient quantity, causethother planis to droop and wither. of these evergreen trees productive of resin, pitch, and tar, Pli ny enumerates si x kinds in Europe; Jonstonus rechoras up thrice that number of the pine and fir fami ly. And indeed, their number, their variety, and their likenesi mahes it dissiculi to be
ing in loW and mady places do not yield so good tar, as those Which grow in higher and more exposed sit uations. And Theophrastus further ob serves, that the inhabitants of mount Ida in Asia, who distinguish the Idaean pine Dom the maritime, assirm, that the tar flowing from thesormer is in greater plenty, as weli as more fragrant than the othero Hence it mould stem, the pines or firs in the mountains of Scotland might be employed that way, and rendered ualuable ; even Where thot imber. by iis remotenesi stom water Carri age, is of smali value. What we cali tho Scotch fir is falsely so called, being in truth a wild forest pine and as Mr. Ray insoris us) agrecing much with the description os a pine gro ing on mount Olympus in Phrygia, probably the only placewhere it is found out of these istands; in whicli os late years it is somuch planted and culti valed with so litile ad vantage, while the cedar of Lebanon might perhaps be rat sed, with litile more trouble, and muchmore profit and ornament
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26. The pines, whicli differ fro in the sirs in the tength and disposition of their leaves and hard ne se of the wood, do not in Pliny's MCount, yielii Q much resin as the fir trees. Severat spices of both a re accurate-ly described and deline: ted by the naturalist s. But they ali agree so Aras to stem related. Theophrastus gives the preserence to that resin whichis got frona the silver fir and pitch tree dis . and be re that yiel led by the pine, which yet he se illi is in greater plenty. Pliny, on the contrary, assirms that the pine produceth the smallest quantity. It mould seemthere re that the interpreter of Theophrastus might have been mistahen, in rendering by pinus, as weli as Jonstonus, Who like isse talles thepi ne for the of Theophrastus. Hardo vin Will have the pinus of pli- ny to have been by others called but by Theophrastus Raythirilis the common fir, or picea of the Latins to be the male sir of Theophrastus. This Was probably the spruce fir; for the picea according to Pliny, yields much resin, loves a cold and mounta in Ous sit uation, and is distingui med , tonsili facilitate, by iis fit ne se to be morn, whicli agrees vitii the spruce fir, whereos I have seen close morn hedges. et . There seems to have been sonae confusion in the nam ing os thesetrees, as Meli among the ancients as the moderns. The ancient Greel
and Latin nam es a re by later aut hors applied very disterently. Pli ny himself acknowledgem, it is not easy even for the skillat to distinguis lithe trees by their leaves, and know their seges and kinds: and that dissi-cul ty is since much in crea sed, by the disco very of many ne w species of that e ver green tribe, gro ing in various paris of the globe. But descriptions are not se eastly mi sapplied as names. Theophrastus telis, that moc disserem stom m 4, among other things, in that it is ne i ther se talinor so stra ight, nor hath so large a leas. The sir he distinguimem into male and se male: the lalter is sester timber than the male, it is also at alter and fairer tree, and this is probably the siti ver fir.
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28. To say no more on this obscure businest whicli I leave to the criticlis, I shali observe that according to Theophrastus not only the turpentine trees, the pines, and the firs yield resin or tar, but also the ce-dars and palm trees; and the words pix and resina a re tali en by Pli ny inso large a sense as to include the weepings of the Lentiscus and Cypresi, and the halms of Arabia and Judaea , ali Whicli perhaps are near of hin, and in their mosi useful qualities concur With common tar, e specialty the Nor Aegian, whicli is the most liquid and best for medicinal uses of any that I have experienced. Those trees that gro re on mountains, exposed to the sun or the Norti, wind, are reclioned by Theophrastus to producethe best and purest tar: and the Idaean pines were distinguis hed Domitiose gro ing on the plain, as yielding a thinner, Meeter, and hester scented tar, ait whicli disserenoes I thinli I have observed, bc tween thetar that comes Dom NorWay, and that whicli comes Dom low and Mam-py count riCS. ets. Agree able to the old observation of the Peripatetics, that heat gathereth homogenous things and disperseth lach as a re heterogeneous, wo find chymistry is fit ted sor the analysis of hodies. But the chymistry of nature is much more perfect than that os human ari, inasmuch as it join-cth to the power of heat that of the most exquisite mechanism. Those who have examined the structure of trees and planis by microscopes, have disco vered an admirabie varie ty of fine capillary tubes and vesseis, fit ted for severat purposes, as the imbibing or attracting of proper nou-risnment, the distributing there of through ali paris of the vegetabie, thodi harge of superfluities, the secretion os particular juices. They a re
soland to have ducis an Mering to the tracheae in animais, sor the conveying of air; they have others aras ering to lacte ais, arteries and vein s.
They seel, digest, respire, perspire and generate their Lindi and a re provided Nith organs nicely fit ted for ali tho se uses. 3C. The
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the trunk storia tho root. Secretory Vesseis are found in the barh, buds, leaves, and Bowers. Exhaling vesseis, sor carrying oss excrementitious paris, are discovered throughout the whole sursace of the vegetable. And
planis, thinlis there appears a circulation of the sap, moving downwardsin the root, and laeding the trunk up ard s. ar. Some difference in deed there is belween learned men, concerning the proper u se of certain paris of Veget abies. But, whether the disco verers have rightly guessed at ali their Uses or no , thus much is certain, that there a re innumerable fine and curious paris in a Veget able body, and a wonderit similitude or analogy bet een the mechanism os planis and animais. And perhaps se me will thin k it not ura rea nable to su pose the mechanism os planis more curious than even that os animais,
is we consider not only the severat juices secreted by different paris of the fame plant, but also the en die se variet y of juices dra n and sor medout of the se me soli, by various species of vegetabies; whicli must there-
fore differ in an endlesi variety, as to the texture of their absorbent vesseis and secretory ducis. 32. A body, there re, ei ther animal or vegetabie may be considere las an organi ged system os iubes and vesteis, containing severat soris offluids. And as sui is a re moved through the vesieis of animal hodies, by the systole aud diastole of the heari, the alternate expanson and Condensation of the air, and the oscillations in the membranes and tuniciis of the vesseis; even so by means of air expanded and contracted in thetracheae or vesscis made up of elastic fibres, the sap is propelled throughthe arteriai tubes of a plant, and the vegetable juices, as they are rarefied by heat or condensed by cold, will ei ther ascend and evaporate into air, or descend in the form of a grosi liquor.
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33. Juices theresore, fissi purified by strat ning through the sine pores of
the root, a re asterwards exalted by the action of the air and vesi eis of
the plant, but, a bove ali, by the action of the sun's light: whicli at thesa me time that it hea is, doth wonderialty rarest and rai se the sap; tili it Perspires and forma an atmosphere, lihe the effluvia of animal hodies. And though the leaves are supposed to persorm principalty the ossice of
lungs, breat hing out excrementitious vapo urs and drawing in alimentary;yet it seems probabie, that the reciprocat adtions os repulsion and attrac-Lion, are performed ait o ver the surface of Veget abies, as weli as animais.
In whicli reciprocation, Hippocrates supposeth the manner of nature'sacting, sor the nourishment and health of animal hodies chiefly to consist. And, indeed, what smare of a plant's nourishment is drawn throughthe leaves and bark, Dom that ambient heterogeneous fluid called air, is not ea sy to say. It se ems very considerable and altogether necessary, asweli to vegetable as animal lise. 3 . It is an opinion received by many, that the sep circulates in planisas the blood in animais: that it ascend s through capillary arteries in thetrunk, into whicli are in osculat ed other vesseis of the bark answering tove ins, which bring hach to the root the rema inder of the sap, o ver an dabo ve what had been deposited, during iis ascent by the arteriai vesteis, and secreted for the severat uses of the vegetable throughout ali iis paris, stem, branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit. Others deny this circulation, and assirm that the sep doth not re turn through the bark vesteis. It is neverthelesi agreed by ali that there a re ascending and descending juices; while so me will have the ascent and descent to be a circulation of the fame juices through different vesseis: others will have the ascend ingjuice to be one fori attracted by the root, and the descending another im-hibed by the leaves, or extremities of the branches: last ly, others thini that the same juice, as it is rarefied or conden sed by heat Or cold, rises and subsides in the fame iube. I stati not take upon me to decide this