Vegetable substances: materials of manufactures / [Published under the superintendence of the Society of the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge]. [Anon].

  • Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (Great Britain)
Date:
1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Vegetable substances: materials of manufactures / [Published under the superintendence of the Society of the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge]. [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Chapter XXV. RESINS. TURPENTINE—CHIAN—STRASBURG—VENICE COMMON TURPENTINE. Turpentine is a resinous juice which flows from several trees. The manner of collecting it has been briefly described in the account given of the pine-tree in a former volume of this series, but the substance is of too extensive use in the arts not to claim a further notice in this portion of the work. The Chian turpentine is that which was most anciently known. It is so called because the island of Chios (Scio) was formerly famous for this resin- ous product, the quality of which is much superior to that of common turpentine. In the present day Chian turpentine is very rarely to be met with in commerce. The tree whence it flows is commonly known as the turpentine-tree: it is called by bota- nists Pistacia terebinthus. The tree grows to the height of twenty-five or thirty feet; the bark is very thick, and the wood is hard and resinous. The leaves are winged, composed of small single leaves growing in pairs opposite to each other and terminated by an odd one; these are serrated and spear-shaped. The flower is succeeded by a calyx, nearly round and resinous to the touch, enclosing a nut which contains a kernel of a slightly acid taste. This tree is an evergreen, but if exposed to an ungenial climate the leaves turn somewhat brown in autumn. It is native to Scio, and grows likewise in some of the southern provinces of France.