Production of Pine Resjn Balsams for Microscopical and Optical Uses

The authors describe a method of obtaining balsam from the crude resin of Yugoslav pines. The quality and the refraction of those balsams are very favorable and they may be used instead of Canada balsam and cedar oil for microscopic work and in some cases for the optical industry. When placed in the above mentioned balsams, histological preparations dyed with very sensitive colors remained unaltered. The authors are of the opinion that the best of all is Balsamum Pini peuce. The balsams of Pinus halpensis, Pinus leucodermis, Pinus nigrae and Pinus silvestris are very similar in their properties to the balsam of Pinus peuce. Tables are given to show: some physical properties of these balsams; the yield obtained in preparing them; their composition in respect to resin and turpentine.