Common turpentine is mostly employed as an ingredient in the plasters used by farriers. The oil is occasionally used in medicine; and, lately, it has been considered efficacious in cases of worms. It is much employed by painters for rendering their colours more fluid; as well as in the composition of different kinds of varnish used in floor-cloth, umbrella, and other manufactures. The noxious spirit called gin was formerly flavoured with juniper berries; but as these are now too expensive, oil of turpentine, the taste of which in a slight degree resembles that of juniper, is applied to the same purpose; and considerable quantities of turpentine are thus consumed. The common resin is used in plasters, for which its great adhesiveness renders it peculiarly applicable. It is also of considerable importance in the arts; and musicians rub the bows and strings of violins with it, to take off the greasy particles which are there collected, as well as to counteract the effects of moisture. Yellow resin is used in plasters, and for other purposes in medicine. _Tar_ is obtained from the roots and refuse parts of the fir-tree, by cutting them into billets, piling these, in a proper manner, in pits or ovens formed for the purpose, covering them partly over, and setting them on fire. During the burning, a black and thick matter, which is the tar, falls to the bottom, and is conducted thence into vessels which are placed to receive it, and from which it is afterwards poured into barrels for sale. Tar is an article of great utility in manufactures, and for various economical purposes. It is much employed for smearing the rigging, and other external parts of ships, to prevent their receiving injury from moisture. It has been used in medicine both internally and externally; and particularly _tar-water_, or water impregnated with tar, was, some years ago, a popular remedy in various disorders, but its virtues have been too much extolled. Although considerable quantities of tar are prepared in this country, these are insufficient to supply the demand; consequently we, every year, import great quantities of it from Russia, Sweden, America, and other countries. _Pitch_ is usually made by melting together coarse hard resin and an equal quantity of tar; or, as some writers state, by boiling tar with a certain portion of water, until it becomes so thick that, on cooling, it forms a hard black mass.