A family herbal: or, Familiar account of the medical properties of British and foreign plants, also their uses in dying, and the various arts, arranged according to the Linnaean system / [Robert John Thornton].

  • Thornton, Robert John, 1768?-1837.
Date:
1814
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A family herbal: or, Familiar account of the medical properties of British and foreign plants, also their uses in dying, and the various arts, arranged according to the Linnaean system / [Robert John Thornton]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    947/954 (page 915)
    790 SCOTCH FIR. of turpentine*, in more than one case of what is commonly called sciatica, I have actually witnessed considerable changes produced *n it, and ascertained the pain about the hip to be mitigated ac¬ cording to the increased presumption of altered action in the ureter. The efficacy of oleum terebinthinae as a styptic has been spoken of by some practitioners, but I have not myself witnessed any decided advantages produced by it; arid, from having much more reason to confide in other medicines of that class, of late ] have ceased to employ it; though, in uterine discharges at¬ tending cold, enfeebled habits, the more stimulative preparations of turpentine may certainly be exhibited with more safety than in the generality of diseases for which they arc said to be calcu¬ lated. As a diaphoretic, in rheumatic and gonty complaints, there are not wanting authorities for the employment of this me¬ dicine, but in modern practice it is rarely resorted to. Neither have the solvent effects which it has been said to produce (and which seem to have been inferred only from what is known to take place out of the body) on biliary calculi received much at¬ tention in the present day. In Germany, Norway, and some parts of the Russian empire, the essential oil of the pine is fre¬ quently used as a remedy for lesions of tendons, and for bruises in general. In England, this remedy has repute principally among farriers; but the recommendations of authors so distin¬ guished as Heister, Platner, and Plenck, certainly entitle it to more frequent trial in chirurgical cases. But the use of the oil of turpentine is not confined to medi¬ cine. It is much employed by the painters for rendering their colours more fluid ; and the concrete resins are usually dissolved in it when they are to be converted into varnishes. Common Resjn Is the residuum of the process for obtaining the essential oil. This process, pushed as far as the nature of the substance will admit of, changes the colour to a deep brown or black, when the resin acquires the name of Black Resin, or Colophony. The medicinal properties of these two kinds of resin are, of course, extremely similar. They are rarely used internally ; but for external purposes (particularly as plasters) they can scarcely be dispensed with, being remarkable for their adhesiveness, espe-