Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1852-10-21
From the National Lntel2igencey1
Anew Use Of the Leaves of the Pine,
(PtnMS Suere@fiS.l

III.
One is manufacture which converts pine
leaves into a sort of cotton or wool; the
other offers to invalids. as curative baths,
the water used in the manufacture of that
vegetable wool. Both have been selected
by Mr.. de Pannewitz, inventor of chem
ical process, by means ofwhichitis possible
to extract from the long and slenderleaves
of the pine very fine ieaccous substance
which he has named woody wool, because
like the ordinary wool, it can be curled,
felted and woven.
All the acicular leaves of the pine fir,
and Of the conifer@ in general, are COM
posed of a bundle of fbrilla extremity fine
and tough surrounded and held together
by resinous substance under the form
of thin pellicle. When by decoction
and the use of certain chemical agents the
resinous substance is dissolved, It'll easy to
separate the fbres to wash them and free
them from all foreign substance. Accor-
ding to the mode preparation employed,
the woOlly substance acquires quality
more or less fine, or remains in its coarse
state in the first instance it is used as
wadding, in the second to stuff mattress
es. # the pine has been preferred to the
other kinds of pitch trees, it is on account
of the length of its needle shaped leaves.
1t is thought that similar result might
be obtained from other trees of the same
species.
The tree can be stripped of its leaves
when quite young without any injury
The operation takes place when they are
still green. a man can gather two hun
dred pounds of leaves day.
1t was first advantageously substitu-
ted for cotton and wool in the manufac-
turc of blankets. The hospital of Vienna
bought FIVE hundred, and after trial of
several years has adopted them entirely.
1t has been remarked, among other ad-
vantages, that no kind of insects would
lodge in the beds, and its aromatic odor
was found agreeable and beneficial
These blankets have since been adopted
by the penitentiary of Vienna, the ehari-
ity hospital of Berlin, the maternity hos
pital, and the barracks of Breslau.
Its cost is three times less than that of
horsehair, and the most experienced up
holsterer, when the wool is employed in
furniture could not tell the one from the
other.
This article can be spun or woven, re-
sembling the thread of hemp for its
strength; it can be made into rugs and
horse blankets.
In the preparation of this wool an ethe-
real oil OF pleasant odor is produced
This oil is at first green; exposed to the
rays of the sun, it assumes an orange yell
low tint; replaced in the shade, it resumes
its former green color; reflected, it be-
comes colorless. 1t differs from the es-
scence of turpentine extracted from tie
same tree. 1t has been found efficient in
rheumatism and gout also as an anthel-
mintic. and in certain cutaneous diseases.
Distilled, it is used in the preparation of lac
of the finest kind. 1t burns in lamps like
olive oil, and dissolves caoutchouc COM
pletely in a short time. Perfumers IN
Paris use it in large quantities.
1t is the liquid left by decoction of the
pine leaves which has been so beneficial
in the form of bath. The bath establish
ment is a fourishing one. ..-
The membranous substance, obtained
by filtration at the time Of the washing of
the fbres, is pressed in brick and dried /;
it is used as cumbustible, and produces,
from the resin it contains, a quantity of
gas sufficient for the lighting of the fac
tory. The production of thousand
ouintals of wool leaves a quantity of com
bustible matter equal in value to sixty
cubic metres Of pine wood L. d.