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 a treatise on Brazil written by a Portuguese friar about 15701600,1 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.

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.

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 shrub2 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.

4

History "Pūti-Karanja,” stinking Karanja, in Susruta (I. 223,1) is the plant under notice. The word Bunduk, occurring in the writings of the Arabian and Persian physicians, also in Constantinus Africanus, mostly signifies hazel-nut. One of these authors, Ibn Baytar, 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 andBunduk Hindi are enumerated in the list of drugs of Noureddeen Mohammed Abdullah Shirazy, 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 practi

1 Purchas, His Pilgrimes, iv. (1625) 1308. Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, part 24 (1877).

3 The word also means a little ball or a round stone. Bunduk Hindi is frequently used by Arabic authors to denote also Areca-nut.

+ Sontheimer's translation, i. 177. Ulfaz Udwiyeh, translated by Gladwin, 1793. No. 543. 551.

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

tioners in the East, and have been included in the Pharmacopoeia of India, 1868.

Description-The seeds are somewhat globular or ovoid, a little compressed, to of an inch in diameter and weighing 20 to 40 grains. They are of a bluish 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 Leguminosa.

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 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 kernels2 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 amor phous 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

1 Waring, Bazaar Medicines, Travancore, 1860. 18.

2 Kindly furnished us by Dr. Waring.

acid, which acquires subsequently a violent 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 HEMATOXYLI.

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

Botanical Origin-Hæmatoxylon campechianum L., a spreading tree1 of moderate size, seldom exceeding 40 feet in height, native of the bay of Campeachy, Honduras and other parts of Central America. It was introduced into Jamaica by Dr. Barham 2 in 1715, and is now completely naturalized in that and other of the West Indian Islands.

History-Hernan Cortes in his letter to the Emperor Charles V., giving an account of his expedition to Honduras in 1525,' 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, 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 5 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.

6

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.7

1

As a medicine, logwood was not employed until shortly before the

Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, part 5 (1876).

Hortus Americanus, Kingston, Jamaica, 1794. 91.

3

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

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.-See Appendix: Fernandez. 523 Eliz. c. 9.

613-14 Car. ii. c. 11. sect. 26 (A.D. 1662), by which the Act of Elizabeth was repealed.

Novus Orbis, 1633. 274 and 265.

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. splits well, although of a rather dense and tough texture.

It

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. The wood has a pleasant odour.

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 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 Hæmatoxylin, which Chevreul obtained in a crystallized state and called Hematine. 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 CH106. 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

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

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 alkalis, 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 alkalis.

By the combined action of ammonia and oxygen, dark violet crystalline scales of Hamatein, CHO" + 3 OH2, are produced. They show a fine green hue, which is also very commonly observable on the surface of the logwood chips of commerce. Hæmateïn 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, CHO3) is obtained. Alum and the salts of lead throw down precipitates from solutions of hæmatoxylin, the latter being of a bluish-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 chemical properties of hæmatoxylin and hæmateïn: whether it also contains gum requires investigation.

Production and Commerce-The felling and shipping of logwood in Central America have been described by Morelet,2 who states that in the woods of Tabasco and Yucatan the trade is carried on in the most irrational and reckless manner. By advancing money to the natives, or by furnishing them with spirits, arms, or tools, the proprietors of the woods engage them to fell a number of trees in proportion to their debts. This is done in the dry season, the rainy period being taken for the shipment of the logs, which are conveyed chiefly to the island of Carmen in the Laguna de Terminos in South-western Yucatan, and to Frontera on the mouths of the Tabasco river, at which places European ships receive cargoes of the wood.

In 1877 the export of Laguna de Terminos amounted to 528,605 quintals (one quintal 46 kilogrammes), that from Port-au-Prince, Hayti, in 1872, nearly to 90,000 tons.

Four sorts of logwood are found in the London market, namely Campeachy, quoted at £8 10s. to £9 10s. per ton; Honduras, £6 10s. to £6 158.; St. Domingo, £5 158. to £6; Jamaica, £5 2s. 6d. to £5 10s. The imports into the United Kingdom were valued in 1872 at £233,035. The quantities imported during that and the previous three years were as follows:

1869 50,458 tons.

1870 62,187 tons.

1 Benedikt, in 1875, assigned them the formula CH39018N +9 OH2.

1872

1871
39,346 tons. 46,039 tons.

2 Voyage dans l'Amérique centrale, l'ile de Cuba et le Yucatan, Paris, 1857.

3 Public Ledger, 28 Feb. 1874.