Oleum Terebinthinae. Dub. Oil of Turpentine

"Take of common turpentine, Jive pounds; water, four pints. Distil the oil from a copper alembic. Yellow resin will remain in the retort after the distillation."

Oleum Terebinthinae Purificatum. Lond. Dub. Rectified Oil of Turpentine

"Take"of oil of turpentine, a pint; (two pints, Dub.); water, four pints. Distil cautiously the oil (a pint and a half of the oil, Dub.)."

Oleum volatile Pini purissimum, Edin. Purified Oil of Turpentine.

"Take of oil of turpentine, one part; water, four parts. Distil as long as any oil passes over."

Syn. Huile essentiale de Terebenthine (F.), Terpenthinohl (G.),O1io di Tre-mentina (I.), Azeyte de Pino (S.).

The chymical qualities and medicinal properties of oil of turpentine have been already noticed. (See Pinus, Part ii.) The rectification of it is a troublesome process, and on account of the great inflammability of the vapours, much caution is required to prevent them from escaping through the lutings of the vessel, and catching fire.

Qualities. - The rectified oil is a little lighter than the common oil, and completely free from any resinous admixture; it is colourless, limpid, and has a high refracting power. Its spec. grav. at 50°, is .872; it boils at 313°. What remains in the retort is thick resinous matter, and is denominated balsam of turpentine.

1 The empirical nostrum, known by the name of Roche's Embrocation, for hooping-cough, consists of two parts of olive oil, one part of oil of amber, and one part oil of cloves.

Medical properties and uses. - These have been already mentioned (Part II.). I have had ample opportunity of ascertaining the efficacy of oil of turpentine as a remedy for tapeworm. In every case in which I have administered it, the worm has been expelled, and the symptoms relieved. In general the animal has been voided dead, and of a livid hue; but in one instance, in which a portion of five feet in length was passed after two fluid ounces of the oil had been taken, it was not livid; and when voided, exhibited evident signs of animation. In no instance have I perceived that the large doses of the oil, which were taken for the above purpose, produced any particular effect on the urinary organs. The more usual sensible effects are temporary intoxication, accompanied with considerable nausea, and sometimes vomiting, which, after two or three alvine evacuations, subside, and leave a degree of languor for ten or twelve hours. The pain of the stomach and side, which is an usual concomitant of the disease, is always removed by the oil.

I have also given this oil in combination with cinchona, with evident benefit in rheumatism; particularly in that modification of the disease, which attacks one side only of the head, and is periodical; the paroxysms generally coming once or twice in the twenty-four hours. Tincture of capsicum, in doses of iij. is a useful adjunct to the bark and turpentine in this affection. In some persons, however, turpentine affects the kidney, producing pain and bloody urine, and in others, its administration has produced a severe erythematic eruption over the body. These effects, however, are in some degree lessened by purifying the oil of turpentine by means of alcohol, as Dr. Nimmo suggests. To eight parts of the oil add "one part of alcohol, and agitate: on the mixture being left at rest, the oil falls to the bottom, and the spirit holding the impurities in solution floats at the top. On repeating this process three or four times, pouring off the spirit each time, the oil is left nearly tasteless, and inodorous."1 The dose in rheumatism is f 3j., repeated every four hours; but in taenia it may be given in doses of f j combined with syrup of poppies, repeated every six hours until the worm is expelled.

1 Journ, of Science, vol. xiii. pp. 65, 66.