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Show 540 CRETAN CISTUS. or thongsof skinsfixed to it, is drawnlightly over the shrub, so as to take up the unctuous juice, which is afterwards scraped off with knives. It is rarely met with pure, even in the places where it is produced; the dust, blown upon the plant bythe wind, mingling with the viscid juice, and the inhabitants also being said to mix it with a-certain black sand. In the shops two sorts are met with: the best (which is very rare) is in dark. coloured, almost black, masses, of the consistence of a soft plaster, which grows still softer upon being handled ; of a very agreeable smell, and of a light, pungent, bitterish, taste: the other sort is harder, not so dark-coloured, in long rolls coiled up: this is of a much weaker smell than the first, and has a larger admixture of a fine sand, which in the ladanumexamined by the French Academy made upthree-fourths ofthe mass ; and that found in the shops seems even more sandy. What Neu- mann examined, however, gave him 5400 alcoholic, and 480 watery; and inversely, 960 watery, and 4960alcoholic extract, from 7680 parts. In distillation water carries over a volatile oil, and alcohol distilled from it becomes milky on the addition of water. PREPARATIONS, Comrounn Burcunpy Pircu Prasrer. (EmplastrumPicis Burgundice Compositum. L.) Take of Burgundy pitch, two pounds ; Jadanum, one pound; ——— yellow .resin, ——— yellow wax, of each four ounces ; expressedoil of mace, one ounce: Tothe pitch, resin, and wax, melted together, addfir st the ladanum, and then the oil of mace. Compounp Lapanum Prasrer. (Emplastrum Ladani Compositum. L.) Take of ladanum, three ounces ; — frankincense, one ounce ; ——— cinnamon, powdered, ——— expressed oil of mace, of each half an ounce; essential oil of mint, one drachm: To the melted frankincense add first the ladanum, softened by heat, then the oil of mace. Mix these afterwards with the cin- CRETAN CISTUS. 541 namon and oil of mint, and beat them together, in a warm mortar, into a plaster. Let it be kept in a closevessel. This has been considered as a very elegant stomach plaster. It is contrived so as to be easily made occasionally (for these kinds of compositions, on account of their volatile ingredients, are not fit for keeping), and to be but moderately adhesive, so as not to offend the skin, and that it may, without difficulty, be frequently renewed ; which these sorts of applications, in orner to their producing any considerableeffect, require to be. They keep up a perspiration over the part affected, and createa local action, which diverts inflammation. Consumption from colds in delicate habits is by such means frequently obviated. After a long continued cough in the winter a Burgundy pitch plaster should be put over the breast-bone. |