Turpentine

Statema, B. C. P.

Resin & Wood

Turpentine

Trementina

Known today as: The oleoresin of the larch (“Venice” turpentine) or of the terebinth (“Chian” turpentine).
Kind: Resin & Wood, in 1 older authority
Constituents: alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, delta-3-carene, and 1 more
Earliest authority here: Pliny (AD 23/24–79)
In the Canale glossary: On the Manner of Discerning and Healing the Bewitched, Appendix A: Part Three, Chapter 9: Anointings

Revised October 1, 2026: An older authority added from a text read in full. Lore added from texts read in full. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.

Turpentine: what did Canale use it for?

The base of the oil for hexes, bewitchments, chills, and wounds, to be drunk a quarter ounce a day for a month (ch. 9).

Turpentine: what does modern science say?

A poison in quantity: as little as 15 ml can kill a child. From the seventeenth to the nineteenth century it was widely used on wounds.

Pharmacognosy & Toxicology

Constituents

alpha-pinene ChEMBL60–90 per cent of the oil
beta-pinene ChEMBL
delta-3-carene ChEMBL
abietic acid ChEMBLin the rosin left after distillation

Mechanism

On the skin the oil is a rubefacient that dilates the vessels and counter-irritates, and it is antiseptic; swallowed, it irritates the stomach and is excreted by the kidney, which it inflames, and the lungs, giving the urine a violet smell. Aspiration into the lungs is the danger in children. Canale’s quarter ounce a day for a month is a dose that would damage the kidneys.

Toxic dose

Fatal doses in adults are recorded from 120 ml; children have died from 15 ml; the Commission E allows it externally only.

Standing

Commission E approves purified turpentine oil externally for rheumatic complaints and in inhalations; internal use is obsolete.

Blumenthal, M., ed. (1998). The Complete German Commission E Monographs, “Turpentine oil, purified.” Standard reference work
Goldfrank’s Toxicologic Emergencies, 11th ed. (2019), “Hydrocarbons.” Standard reference work

Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.

Turpentine: what lore surrounds it?

Of the terebinth, the tree of Chian turpentine, Folkard writes that it “is a tree much venerated by the Jews. Abraham pitched his tent beneath the shade of a Terebinth at Mamre,” that Josephus held “the Terebinth of Abraham had flourished ever since the creation of the world,” and that “the Jews, by preference, bury their dead beneath the shadow of a Terebinth.” Of the larch he notes that “Ben Jonson, in the ‘Masque of Queens,’ speaks of the gum or turpentine of the Larch as being used in witchcraft,” the witch bringing “juice that from the Larch-tree comes,” and that from the balm of Gilead fir “a very fine turpentine is obtained, which is sometimes sold as the true Balm of Gilead.”

Turpentine: what did the older authorities say?

Pliny: Of the terebinth of Syria, the male bears no fruit and the female a red fruit the size of a lentil or a pale one ripening with the grape, “of a very agreeable smell, and sticky and resinous to the touch”; about Ida and in Macedonia the tree is short and shrubby, at Damascus large; and resin of terebinth is among the ingredients of the Mendesian unguent.

Sources

[43] Felter, H. W., & Lloyd, J. U. (1898). King’s American Dispensatory. Monographs as transcribed at Henriette’s Herbal Homepage, henriettes-herb.com, cited under the drug concerned. Read in full · the text read
[92] National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards: Turpentine. cdc.gov/niosh. Book, seen in reviews
[113] Tennessee Poison Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Toxicology Question of the Week: N. Bowman, “Nutmeg, a potentially uninvited holiday guest?” (23 November 2020); B. Frazier, “What are the clinical manifestations of turpentine poisoning?” (21 November 2022). vumc.org. Book, not indexed

Pliny the Elder, Natural History 13.12, 13.2, trans. J. Bostock & H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus Digital Library. Primary text
Folkard, R. (1884). Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics, “Terebinth.” Project Gutenberg #44638. Primary text
Folkard, R. (1884). Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics, “Larch.” Project Gutenberg #44638. Primary text
Folkard, R. (1884). Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics, “Fir.” Project Gutenberg #44638. Primary text

Verification

Checked

October 1, 2026

Passes

Every sentence read against its sources, in the fifty-entry sample
The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full

Sources

9 cited: 1 read in full, 4 primary text, 2 standard reference work, 1 book, seen in reviews, 1 book, not indexed.

Corrections

the violet smell is of the urine, not the breath.

What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.

Cite This Entry

Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026 · last revised October 1, 2026

Chicago: “Turpentine.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/turpentine.
MLA: “Turpentine.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/turpentine. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
APA: Turpentine. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/turpentine

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