Commerce-The balsam is shipped chiefly at Acajutla. It used formerly to be packed in large earthenware jars, said to be Spanish wine-jars, which, wrapped in straw, were sewed up in raw hide. These packages have of late been superseded by metallic drums, which have the advantage of being much less liable to breakage. We have no recent statistics as to the quantity exported from Central America.

Uses Occasionally prescribed in the form of ointment as a stimulating application to old sores, sometimes internally for the relief of asthma and chronic cough. It is said to be also employed for scenting soap.

Other sorts of Balsam of Peru.

The value anciently set upon balsam for religious and medicinal uses, led to it being extracted from trees no longer employed for the purpose; and many of the products so obtained have attracted the attention of pharmacologists.1 Parkinson writing in 1640 observes that—" there have beene divers other sorts of liquours, called Balsamum for their excellent vertues, brought out of the West Indies, every one of which for a time after their first bringing was of great account with all men and bought at great prices, but as greater store was brought, so did the prices diminish and the use decay.

In a treatise on Brazil written by a Portuguese friar about 15701600, mention is made of the " Cabueriba" (Cabure-iba), from which a much-esteemed balsam was obtained by making incisions in the stem, and absorbing the exudation with cotton wool, somewhat in the same way as Balsam of Peru is now collected in Salvador. This tree is Myrocarpus frondosus Allem., now called Cabriuva preta. The genus is closely allied to Myroxylon.

A fragrant balsamic resin is likewise collected, though in but very small quantity, from Myroxylon peruiferum Linn. f., a noble tree of New Granada, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. A fine sample of this substance, accompanied by herbarium and other specimens, was presented to one of us (H.) by Mr. J. Correa de Méllo of Campinas (Brazil); it is a resin having a general resemblance to Balsam of Tolu, but of somewhat deeper and redder tint, and greater hardness. Pressed between two slips of warmed glass, it does not exhibit any crystals.

In Salvador, the name Balsamo blanco (White Balsam) is applied to the soft resin contained in the large ducts of the legume of Myroxylon Pereira. This when pressed out, forins a golden yellow, semi-fluid, granular, crystalline mass, hardening by age, having a rather unpleasant odour suggestive of melilot. Stenhouse (1850) obtained from it the neutral resin Myroxocarpin C24H3403, in thin colourless prisms, an inch or more in length. We have succeeded in extracting it directly from the pods. This White Balsam, which is distinctly mentioned in the letter of Palacio in 1576 (see p. 180), is a scarce and valuable article, never prepared for the market. A large jar of it was sent to Pereira in 1850.3

Another fragrant oleo-resin which has doubtless been confounded with that of a Myroxylon, is obtained in Central America from Liquidambar styraciflua L., either by incision or by boiling the bark.

1 Guibourt, Hist. des Drog. iii. (1850)

440.

2 Purchas, His Pilgrimes, iv. (1625)

1308.

Pharm. Journ. x. (1851) 286.

SEMEN BONDUCELLÆ.

Semen Guilandina; Bonduc Seeds, Grey Nicker Seeds or Nuts; F. Graines de Bonduc ou du Cniquier, Pois Quéniques, Pois Guénic.

Botanical Origin-Casalpinia Bonducella Roxb. (Guilandina Bonducella L.), a prickly, pubescent, climbing shrub of wide distribution, occurring in Tropical Asia, Africa and America, especially near the sea. The compressed, ovate, spiny legume is 2 to 3 inches long, and contains. one or two, occasionally three or four, hard, grey, globular seeds.

The plant is often confounded with C. Bonduc Roxb., a nearly allied but much rarer species, distinguished by being nearly glabrous, having leaflets very unequal at the base, no stipules, erect bracts, and yellow seeds.

History The word Bunduk, occurring in the writings of the Arabian and Persian physicians, mostly signifies hazel-nut. One of these authors, Ibn Baytar 2 who flourished in the 13th century, further distinguished a drug called Bunduk Hindi (Indian Hazel-nut), giving a description which indicates it plainly as the seed under notice. Both Bunduk and Bunduk Hindi are enumerated in the list of drugs of Noureddeen Mohammed Abdullah Shirázy, physician to the Mogul emperor Shah Jehan, A.D. 1628-1661.

The pods of C. Bonducella were figured by Clusius in 1605, under the name of Lobus echinodes, and the plant both by Rheede and Rumphius. Piso and Marcgraf (1648) noticed it in Brazil and gave some account of it with a bad woodcut, under the designation of Inimbóy (now Inimboja), or in Portuguese Silva do Praya.

In recent times, Bonduc seeds have been employed on account of their tonic and antiperiodic properties by numerous European practitioners in the East, and have been included in the Pharmacopoeia of India, 1868.

Description-The seeds are somewhat globular or ovoid, a little compressed, too of an inch in diameter and weighing 20 to 40 grains. They are of a blueish or greenish grey tint, smooth yet marked by slightly elevated horizontal lines of a darker hue. The umbilicus is surrounded by a small, dark brown, semilunar blotch opposite the micropyle. The hard shell is from to of an inch thick, and contains a white kernel, representing from 40 to 50 per cent. of the weight of the seed. It separates easily from the shell, and consists of the two cotyledons and a stout radicle. When a seed is soaked for some hours in cold water, a very thin layer can be peeled from the surface of the testa. The kernel is bitter, but with the taste that is common to most seeds of the family Leguminosæ.

Microscopic Structure-The outer layer of the testa, the epidermis above alluded to, is composed of two zones of perpendicular, closely packed cells, the outer measuring about 130 mkm., the inner

1 The word also means a little ball or a round stone.

Sontheimer's translation i. 177.

3 Ulfaz Udwiyeh, translated by Gladwin, 1793. No. 542. 551.

Hort. Malab. ii. (1679) tab. 22, sub nom. Caretti.

100 mkm. in length and only 5 to 7 mkm. in diameter. The walls of these cylindrical cells are thickened by secondary deposits, which in transverse section show usually four or more channels running down nearly perpendicularly through the whole cell.

The spongy parenchyme which is covered by this very distinct outer layer, is made up of irregular, ovate, subglobular or somewhat elongated cells with large spaces between them, loaded with brown masses of tannic matter, assuming a blackish hue when touched with perchloride of iron. The thick walls of these cells frequently exhibit, chiefly in the inner layers, undulated outlines. The tissue of the cotyledons is composed of very large cells, swelling considerably in water and containing some mucilage (as may be ascertained when thin slices are examined in oil), small starch granules, fatty oil, and a little albuminous matter.

Chemical Composition-According to the medical reports alluded to in the Pharmacopoeia of India (1868), Bonduc seeds, and still more the root of the plant, act as a powerful antiperiodic and tonic.

The active principle has not yet been adequately examined. It may perhaps occur in larger proportion in the bark of the root, which is said to be more efficacious than the seeds in the treatment of intermittent fever.1

In order to ascertain the chemical nature of the principle of the seeds, one ounce of the kernels 2 was powdered and exhausted with slightly acidulated alcohol. The solution after the evaporation of the alcohol was made alkaline with caustic potash, which did not produce a precipitate. Ether now shaken with the liquid, completely removed the bitter matter and yielded it in the form of an amorphous white powder, devoid of alkaline properties. It is sparingly soluble in water, but readily in alcohol, forming intensely bitter solutions; an aqueous solution is not precipitated by tannic acid. It produces a yellowish or brownish solution with concentrated sulphuric acid, which acquires subsequently a violet hue. Nitric acid is without manifest influence. From these experiments, we may infer that the active principle of the Bonduc seed is a bitter substance not possessing basic properties.

Uses The powdered kernels either per se, or mixed with black pepper (Pulvis Bonducella compositus Ph. Ind.), are employed in India against intermittent fevers and as a general tonic.

The fatty oil of the seeds is sometimes extracted and used in India; it was shown at the Madras Exhibitions of 1855 and 1857.

LIGNUM HÆMATOXYLI.

Lignum Campechianum v. Campescanum; Logwood, Peachwood; F. Bois de Campèche, Bois d'Inde; G. Campecheholz, Blauholz.

Botanical Origin-Hæmatoxylon Campechianum L., a spreading tree of moderate size, seldom exceeding 40 feet in height, native of the bay of Campeachy, Honduras and other parts of Central America. It 1 Waring, Bazaar Medicines, Travancore, 1860. 18.

* Kindly furnished us by Dr. Waring.

was introduced into Jamaica by Dr. Barham 1 in 1715, and is now completely naturalized in that and other of the West India Islands.

History-Hernan Cortes in his letter to the Emperor Charles V. giving an account of his expedition to Honduras in 1525,2 refers to the Indian towns of Xiculango and Tabasco as carrying on a trade in cacao, cotton cloth, and colours for dyeing,-in which last phrase there may be an allusion to logwood. We have sought for some more definite notice of the wood in the Historia de las Indias of Oviedo,3 the first chronicler of America, but without much success.

Yet the wood must have been introduced into England in the latter half of the 16th century, for in 1581, an act of parliament was passed abolishing its use and ordering that any found should be forfeited and burned. In this act, the obnoxious dye is described as a certain kind of ware or stuff called Logwood alias Blockwood... of late years. . brought into this realm of England." The object of this measure was to protect the public against the bad work of the dyers who, it seems, were unable at that period to obtain durable colours by the use of logwood. Eighty years later, the art of dyeing had so far improved that logwood was again permitted, the colours produced by it being declared as lasting and serviceable as those made by any other sort of dyewood

whatsoever.

The wood is mentioned by De Laet (1633) as deriving its name from the town of Campeachy, whence says he, it is brought in great plenty to Europe.6

As a medicine, logwood was not employed until shortly before the year 1746, when it was introduced into the London Pharmacopoeia under the name of Lignum tinctile Campechense.

Description-The tree is fit to be felled when about ten years old; the dark bark and the yellowish sap-wood are chipped off, the stems cut into logs about three feet long, and the red heart-wood alone exported. By exposure to air and moisture, the wood acquires externally a blackish red colour; internally it remains brownish red. It splits well, although of a rather dense and tough texture.

The transverse section of a piece of logwood, exhibits to the naked eye a series of very narrow concentric zones, formed by comparatively large pores, and of small parenchymatous circles separated by the larger and darker rings of the proper woody tissue. The numerous medullary rays are visible only by means of a lens.

For use in pharmacy, logwood is always purchased in the form of chips, which are produced by the aid of powerful machinery. The chips have a feeble, seaweed-like odour, and a slightly sweet, astringent taste, better perceived in a watery decoction than by chewing the dry wood, which however quickly imparts to the saliva its brilliant colour.

Microscopic Structure.-Under a high magnifying power, the concentric zones are seen to run not quite regularly round the centre, but

Hortus Americanus, Kingston, Jamaica, 1794. 91.

2 Fifth Letter of Hernan Cortes to the Emperor Charles V., Lond. (Hakluyt Society) 1868. 43.

3 The first edition bears date 1535. We have used the modern one of Madrid,

1851-55, 4to., and may refer in particular to tom. i. lib. ix. c. 15, iii. lib. xxxi. c. 8 and c. 11.

4 23 Eliz. c. 9.

5 13-14 Car. ii. c. 11. sect. 26 (A.D. 166?), by which the act of Elizabeth was repealed. 6 Novus Orbis, 1633, 274, and 265?

in a somewhat undulating manner, because they do not correspond, as in our indigenous woods, to regular periods of annual growth. The vascular bundles contain only a few vessels, and are transversely united by small lighter parenchymatous bands. The latter are made up of large, cubic, elongated or polygonal cells, each loaded with a crystal of oxalate of calcium. The large punctuated vessels having frequently 150 mkm. diameter, are surrounded by this woody parenchyme, while the prevailing tissue of the wood is composed of densely packed prosenchyme, consisting of long cylindrical cells (libriform) with thick, dark red-brown walls having small pores.

The medullary rays are of the usual structural character, running transversely in one to three straight rows; in a longitudinal section, the single rays show from 4 to 40 rows succeeding each other perpendicularly. No regular arrangement of the rays is obvious in a longitudinal section made in a tangential direction. The colouring matter is chiefly contained in the walls of the ligneous tissue and the vessels, and sometimes occurs in crystals of a greenish hue within the latter, or in clefts of the wood.

Chemical Composition-Logwood was submitted to analysis by Chevreul as early as the year 1810,1 since which period all contributions to a knowledge of the drug, refer exclusively to its colouring principle Haematoxylin, which Chevreul obtained in a crystallized state and called Hématine. The very interesting properties of this substance have been chiefly examined by Erdmann (1842) and by O.Hesse (1858–59).

Erdmann obtained from logwood 9 to 12 per cent. of crystallized hæmatoxylin, which he showed to have the formula C16H1406. In a pure state it is colourless, crystallizing with 1 or with 3 equivalents of water, and is readily soluble in hot water or in alcohol, but sparingly in cold water or in ether. It has a persistent sweet taste like liquorice. The crystals of hæmatoxylin acquire a red colour by the action of sunlight, as likewise their aqueous solution. They are decomposed by ozone but not by pure and dry oxygen. In presence of alkalies, hæmatoxylin exposed to the air, quickly yields dark purplish violet solutions, which soon acquire a yellowish or dingy brownish colour; hence in analytical chemistry hæmatoxylin is used as a test for alkalies.

By the combined action of ammonia and oxygen, dark violet crystalline scales of Hamatein, C16H12O6 + 3H2O, are produced. They show a fine green hue, which is also very commonly observable on the surface of the logwood chips of commerce. Hæmatein may again be transformed into hæmatoxylin by means of hydrogen or of sulphurous acid.

Hæmatoxylin separates protoxide of copper from an alkaline solution of the tartrate, and deviates the ray of polarized light to the right hand. It is not decomposed by concentrated hydrochloric acid; by melting hæmatoxylin with potash, pyrogallol (pyrogallic acid C6H6O3) is obtained. Alum and the salts of lead throw down precipitates from solutions of hæmatoxylin, the latter being of a blueish-black colour. Logwood affords upon incineration 33 per cent. of ash.

The colouring matter being abundantly soluble in boiling water, an Extract of Logwood is also prepared on a large scale. It occurs in commerce in the form of a blackish brittle mass, taking the form of the wooden chest into which it is put while soft. The extract shares the

1 Annales de Chimie, lxxxi. (1812) 128.