is weighed, subjected to a second and more careful trimming, and classified according to quality. In some parts, it is customary not to fell but to dig the tree up; in others, the root is dug up after the trunk has been cut down,-the root affording valuable wood, which with the chips and sawdust are preserved for distillation, or for burning in the native temples. The sap wood and branches are worthless.1 In 1863, a sort of sandal wood afforded by Fusanus spicatus (p. 541), was one of the chief exports of Western Australia, whence it was shipped to China. A trifling payment for permission to cut growing timber of any kind, was the only barrier placed on the felling of the trees. The farmers employed their teams during the dull season in bringing to Perth or Guildford the logs of sandal which had been felled and trimmed in the bush; and there was a flourishing trade so long as trees of a fair size could be obtained within 100 or even 150 miles of the towns, where the commodity was worth £6 to £6 10s. per ton. But the ill-regulated and improvident destruction of the trees in the more. easily accessible districts, has so reduced their numbers that the trade in that part of Australia soon came to an end.2 Australian sandal wood appears however to be still an article of commerce, if one may draw such an inference from the fact that 47,904 cwt. of sandal wood were imported into Singapore from Australia in the year 1872. It was mostly re-shipped to China.3 Description-Sandal wood is not much known in English commerce, and is by no means always to be found even in London. That which we have examined and which we believe was Indian, was in cylindrical logs mostly about 6 inches in diameter (the largest 8 inches-smallest 3 inches) and 3 to 4 feet long, extremely ponderous; the bark had been removed. A transverse section of sandal wood exhibits it of a pale brown, marked with rather darker concentric zones and (when seen under a lens) numerous open pores. The tissue is traversed by medullary rays, also perceptible by the aid of a lens. The wood splits easily, emitting when comminuted an agreeable odour which is remarkably persistent; it has a strongish aromatic taste. The varieties of sandal wood are not classified by the few persons who deal in the article in London, and we are unable to point out characters by which they may be distinguished. In the price-currents of commercial houses in China, three sorts of sandal wood are enumerated, namely South Sea Island, Timor and Malabar; the last fetches three or four times as high a price as either of the others. Even the Indian sandal wood may vary in an important manner. Beddome, conser vator of forests in Madras, and an excellent observer, remarks that the finest sandal wood is that which has grown slowly on rocky, dry and poor land; and that the trees found in a rich alluvial soil, though of very fine growth, produce no heart-wood and are consequently valueless. A variety of the tree with more lanceolate leaves (var. B. myrtifolium DC.), native 1 Elliot, Experiences of a Planter in the Jungles of Mysore, ii. (1871) 237; also verbal information communicated by Capt. Campbell Walker, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Madras. 2 Millett, An Australian Parsonage, Lond., 1872, 43. 95. 382. 3 Straits Settlements Blue Book for 1872, Singapore, 1873. 298. 347.-It is possible that the sandal wood in question may have been the produce of the South Sea Islands, shipped from an Australian port. 4 Op. cit. of the eastern mountains of the Madras Presidency, affords a sandal wood which is nearly inodorous. Microscopic Structure-The woody rays or wedges show a breadth varying from 35 to 420 mkm., the primary being frequently divided by secondary medullary rays. These latter rays consist of one, often of two rows of cells of the usual form. The woody tissue which they enclose, is chiefly made up of small ligneous fibres with pointed ends, some larger parenchymatous cells, and thick-walled vessels. The resin and essential oil reside chiefly in the medullary rays as shown by the darker colour of these latter. Chemical Composition-The most important constituent is the essential oil, which the wood yields to the extent of about 1 per cent. It is a light yellow, thick liquid, possessing the characteristic odour of sandal; that which we examined had a sp. gr. of 0.963. We did not succeed in finding a fixed boiling point of the oil; it began to boil at 214° C., but the temperature quickly rose to 255°, the oil acquiring a darker hue. Oil of sandal wood varies much in the strength and character of its aroma, according to the sort of wood from which it is produced. From the wood treated with boiling alcohol, we obtained about 7 per cent. of a blackish extract, from which a tannate was precipitated by alcoholic solution of acetate of lead. Decomposed by sulphuretted hydrogen, the tannate yielded a tannic acid having but little colour, and striking a greenish hue with a ferric salt. The extract also contained a dark resin. Commerce-The greatest trade in sandal wood is in China, which country in the year 1866, imported at the fourteen treaty ports then open 87,321 peculs, equivalent to 5197 tons; of this vast quantity, the city of Hankow on the river Yangtsze, received no less than 61,414 peculs, or more than seven times as much as any other port. The imports into Hankow have recently been much smaller, namely 14,989 peculs in 1871, and 12,798 peculs in 1872.2 On the other hand, Shanghai lying near the mouth of the same great river, imported in 1872, 59,485 peculs of sandal wood, the estimated value of which was about £100,000. A considerable trade in sandal wood is done at Bombay, the quantity imported thither annually being about 650 tons, and the annual export about 400 tons.3 4 Oil of sandal wood is largely manufactured on the ghats between Mangalore and Mysore, where fuel for the stills is abundant. Official returns represent the quantity of the oil imported into Bombay in the year 1872-73, as 10,348 lb., value £8374; 4500 lb. were re-exported by sea. Uses The essential oil has of late been prescribed as a substitute for copaiba, otherwise sandal wood has hardly any uses in modern European medicine. It is employed as a perfume and for the fabrication of small articles of ornament. Among the natives of India, 1 Reports on Trade at the ports in China open to foreign trade for 1866, published by order of the Inspector-General of Customs, Shanghai, 1867. 120. 121. One pecul 1334 lb. = 2 Commercial Reports of H.M. Consuls in China for 1871 (p. 50) and 1872 (pp. 62. 159). 3 From the official document quoted at p. 542, note 3. 4 See p. 297, note 5. it is largely consumed in the celebration of sepulchral rites, wealthy Hindus showing their respect for a departed relative by adding sticks of sandal wood to the funereal pile. The powder of the wood made into a paste with water, is used for making the caste mark, and also for medicinal purposes. The consumption of sandal wood in China appears to be principally for the incense used in the temples. CONIFERÆ. TEREBINTHINA VULGARIS. Crude or Common Turpentine; F. Térebenthine commune; G. Gemeiner Terpenthin. Botanical Origin-The trees which yield Common Turpentine may be considered in two groups, namely, European and American. 1. European-In Finland and Russia Proper, the Scotch Pine, Pinus silvestris L.; in Austria and Corsica, P. Laricio Poiret; and in Southwestern France, P. Pinaster Solander (P. maritima Poiret), known as the Pin maritime, yield turpentine in their respective countries. 2. American-In the United States, the conifers most important for terebinthinous products, are the Swamp Pine, Pinus australis Michaux (P. palustris Mill.), and the Loblolly Pine, P. Tada L. History The resin of pines and firs was well known to the ancients, who obtained it in much the same manner as that practised at the present day. The turpentine used in this country has for many years past been derived from North America. Up to the last century, both it and the substance called Common Frankincense were imported from France. The late civil war in the United States and the blockade of the Southern ports, occasioned a great scarcity of American turpentine; and terebinthinous substances from all other countries were poured into the London market. The actual supplies however, were mainly furnished by France. Kopp1 quotes a passage showing that the essential oil of turpentine was known to Marcus Græcus, who termed it Aqua ardens. This almost unknown personage is the reputed inventor of Greek Fire, a dreaded engine of destruction in medieval warfare. 3 Secretion-The primary formation of resin-ducts in the bark of coniferous trees has been explained by Dippel,2 Müller, and Frank,* The subsequent diffusion of the resinous juice through the heart-wood, sap-wood, and bark, has been elaborately investigated by Hugo von Mohl. From the various forms under which this diffusion exists in the different species, have arisen the diverse methods of obtaining the terebinthinous resins. Thus in the wood of the Silver Fir (Pinus Picea L.), resin-ducts are altogether wanting;-and led by experience, the Alpine peasant collects the turpentine of this tree by simply puncturing the little cavities which form under its bark. In the Scotch Pine (P. silvestris L.), they are more 1 Geschichte der Chemie, iv. (1847) 392. 2 Botanische Zeitung, 1863. * Pringsheim, Juhrb. für wissenschaftl. Botanik. 1866. Beiträge zur Pflanzenphysiologie, Leipzig, 1868. 119. 5 Botanische Zeitung, 1859. 329. N N abundant in the wood than in the bark, a fact which might be anticipated by observing how rarely this tree exudes resin spontaneously. Oil of turpentine, like volatile oils in general, undergoes on exposure to the air certain alterations giving rise to what is called resinification. The formic acid which is produced in small quantity during this change, characterizes it as one of oxidation; the chief products however are not exactly known, and not one of them has been proved identical with any natural resin. The common assumption that resins are produced from volatile oils by simple oxidation, is consequently not yet entirely justified. Hlasiwetz and Barth however, have obtained substances coming extremely near to the resins of coniferous trees, by heating essential oils of turpentine, juniper and the like, in sealed tubes with alcoholic solution of potash.1 Extraction-In the United States,2 turpentine is obtained to the largest extent from Pinus australis, of which tree there are vast forests in North and South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. But it is in North Carolina that the extraction of turpentine is principally carried on. In the winter, i.e. from November to March, the negroes in a Turpentine Orchard, as the district of forest to be worked is called, are occupied in making in the trunks of the trees, cavities which are technically known as boxes. For this purpose a long narrow axe is used, and some skill is required to wield it properly. The boxes are made from 6 to 12 inches above the ground, and are shaped like a distended waistcoat-pocket, the bottom being about 4 inches below the lower lip, and 8 or 10 below the upper. On a tree of medium size, a box should be made to hold a quart. The less the axe approaches the centre of the tree, the better, as vitality is the less endangered. An expert workman will make a box in less than 10 minutes. From one to four boxes are made in each tree, a few inches of bark being left between them. The greater number of trees from which turpentine is now obtained, are from 12 to 18 inches in diameter, and have three boxes each. The boxes having been made, the bark and a little of the wood immediately beneath it, which are above the box, are hacked; and from this excoriation, the sap begins to flow about the middle of March, gradually filling the box. Each tree requires to be freshly hacked every 8 or 10 days, a very slight wound above the last being all that is needed. The hacking is carried on year after year, until it reaches 12 to 15 feet or more, ladders being used. The turpentine, which is called dip, is removed from the boxes by a spoon or ladle of peculiar form, and collected into barrels, which are made on the spot and are of very rude construction. The first year's flow of a new tree, having but a small surface to traverse before it reaches the box, is of special goodness and is termed Virgin dip. The turpentine which concretes upon the trunk is occasionally scraped off and barrelled by itself, and is known in the market as scrape, or by English druggists as Common Frankincense or Gum Thus. Although a large amount of turpentine is shipped to the northern ports for distillation, a still larger is distilled in the neighbourhood of 1 Wiesner, Die Gummiarten, Harze und Balsame, Erlangen, 1869. 78. The account here given is taken from F. L Olmsted's Journey in the Seaboard the turpentine orchards. Copper stills are used, capable of containing 5 to 20 harrels of turpentine. The turpentine is distilled without water, the volatile oil as it flows from the worm being received in the barrel in which it is afterwards sent to market. When all the oil that can be profitably drawn off has been obtained, a spigot is removed from an opening in the bottom of the still, and the residual Rosin, appearing as a viscid fluid like molasses, is allowed to flow out. Only the first qualities of rosin, as that obtained from Virgin dip, are generally considered worth saving, the less pure sorts being simply allowed to run to waste. When it is intended to save the rosin, the latter is drawn off into a vat of water, which separates the chips and other rubbish, and the rosin is then placed in barrels for the market. A North Carolina. turpentine orchard will remain productive under ordinary treatment for fifty years. The collection of turpentine in the departments of the Landes and Gironde in the south-west of France, is performed in a more rational manner than in America, inasmuch as the plan of making deep cavities in the tree for the purpose of receiving the resin, is avoided by the simple expedient of placing a suitable vessel beneath the lowest incision. The turpentine which concretes upon the stem is termed in France, Galipot or Barras, Description-Common turpentine is chiefly of two varieties, namely, American and Bordeaux; the first alone is commonly found in the English market. American Turpentine -A viscid honey-like fluid, of yellowish colour, somewhat opaque, but becoming transparent by exposure to the air; it has an agreeable odour and warm bitterish taste. When long kept in a bottle, it is seen to separate into two layers, the upper clear and faintly fluorescent, the lower somewhat turbid or granular. When the latter portion is examined under the microscope, it is found to consist mainly of minute crystals of peculiar curved or bluntly elliptic. form. These crystals are abietic acid; when the turpentine is warmed, the crystals are speedily dissolved. Bordeaux Turpentine-in all essential particulars agrees with American turpentine; it appears to separate rather more readily than the latter into two layers,-a transparent and an opaque or crystalline. Chemical Composition-The turpentines are mixtures of resin and essential oil. The latter which amounts to from 15 to 30 per cent., consists for the greater part of various hydrocarbons, all corresponding to the formula C10H16. Many of the crude turpentine oils, and some of them even after rectification, are energetically acted on by metallic sodium. This reaction proves the presence of a certain quantity of oxygenated oils, not one of which has thus far been isolated. The turpentine oils although agreeing in composition, exhibit a series of physical differences according to their origin. One and the same tree, indeed, yields from its several organs, oils of different properties. The boiling point varies between 152° and 172° C. The sp. gr. at mean temperatures ranges from 0.856 to 0.870. Greater differences are exhibited in the optical properties, some varieties of the 1 For further particulars, see Guibourt, Hist. des Drog. ii. (1869) 259. |