# Where can I get a turpentine pill? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 4, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-turpentine-pill/173031 "2003-05-04T15:58:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-turpentine-pill/173031/1 "2003-05-04T15:58:10Z")
Per Ben Franklin’s note (from Cecil’s column on asparagus) where can you get a “turpentine pill” (assuming it’s not deadly). Would a few drops of turpentine or eating some pine resin accomplish the same thing to test out Franklin’s “pleasing smell of violets” observation . > [@](#): > > For example, Benjamin Franklin, in a wide-ranging discussion of bodily discharges, once noted, “a few stems of asparagus eaten shall give our urine a disagreeable odor; and a pill of turpentine no bigger than a pea shall bestow upon it the pleasing smell of violets.” ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-turpentine-pill/173031/2 "2003-05-04T17:42:56Z")
I wouldn’t do it, though the practice of medicinal use of turpentine seems to have been common through the 19th century: [http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/eclectic/cook/TEREBINTHINA.htm](http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/eclectic/cook/TEREBINTHINA.htm) [http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/eclectic/kings/pinus\_tere.html](http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/eclectic/kings/pinus_tere.html) Both of those sources mention the smell of violets imparted to the urine, as does a more modern toxicology report: [http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/byname/toxicity-terpene.htm](http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/byname/toxicity-terpene.htm) On this one, I’ll trust the literature. You will note that even those 19th century dispensary reports don’t make it sound like it’s particularly good for you: > [@](#): > > … The oil is a diffusive and exciting stimulant, arousing the stomach and circulation, strongly influencing the kidneys, and presently being absorbed so as to mark the exhalations of the lungs and skin with its peculiar odor. It also gives to the urine the odor of violets. Any considerable dose, or small doses continued for a number of days, may occasion burning of the stomach, scalding urine, strangury, irritation of the kidneys and bladder, painful looseness of the bowels, and even bloody urine. ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-turpentine-pill/173031/3 "2003-05-04T17:50:58Z")
I was just about to post the same link as **yabob** did, but on preview, I see he’s beaten me to it. So I’ll just point out that Samuel Pepys apparently took turpentine pills as well. From his diary entry of December 31, 1664 on this page, [http://www.pepys.info/1664/1664.html](http://www.pepys.info/1664/1664.html) > [@](#): > > But I bless God, I never have been in so a plight as to my health in so very cold weather as this is, nor indeed in any hot weather these ten years, as I am at this day and have been these four of five months. But I am at a great loss to know whether it be my Hare’s foote, or taking every morning of a pill of Turpentine, or my having left off the wearing of a gowne. Personally, though, I wouldn’t eat turpentine even if it made my pee smell like Chanel No. 5… ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-turpentine-pill/173031/4 "2003-05-04T17:53:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yabob \* > \*\*I wouldn’t do it, though the practice of medicinal use of turpentine seems to have been common through the 19th century: > > [http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/eclectic/cook/TEREBINTHINA.htm](http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/eclectic/cook/TEREBINTHINA.htm) > [http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/eclectic/kings/pinus\_tere.html](http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/eclectic/kings/pinus_tere.html) > > Both of those sources mention the smell of violets imparted to the urine, as does a more modern toxicology report: > > [http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/byname/toxicity-terpene.htm](http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/byname/toxicity-terpene.htm) > > On this one, I’ll trust the literature. You will note that even those 19th century dispensary reports don’t make it sound like it’s particularly good for you: \*\* And my saliva will strip paint. It’s all good! ---
**Author:** ![El\_Smasho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f9ae1b/32.png) [@El\_Smasho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Smasho)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-turpentine-pill/173031/5 "2003-05-05T18:52:12Z")
I think the easiest way to get a turpentine pill is to break one off a tree. That’s where natural turnpentine comes from, you know.