LIGNUM GUAIACI. 



101 



obliquely obovate or oblong, passing into rhomboid-ovate, and mucronu- 

 late; and a 5-celled fruit. It is found in Southern Florida, the Bahama 

 Islands, Key West, Cuba, St. Domingo (including the part called Hayti) 

 and Puerto Rico, and is certainly the source of the small but excellent 

 Lignum Vitse exported from the Bahamas as well as of some of that 

 shipped from Hayti. 



History— There can be no doubt but that the earliest importations 

 of Lignum Vitaj were obtained from St. Domingo, of which island, 

 Oviedo' who landed in America in 1514 mentions the tree, under the 

 name of Guayacan, as a native. He points out its fruits as yellow and 

 resembhng two joined lupines, which could only be said with reference 

 to G. ojfficinale, aiid would not apply to the ovoid five-cornered fruits of 

 G. sanctum. Oviedo appears however to have been aware of two species, 

 one of which he found in Espanola (St. Domingo) as well as in Nagrando 

 (Nicaragua) and the other in the island of St. John (Puerto' Eico), 

 whence it was called Lignum sanctum. 



] f^^^^^ edition of Oviedo was printed in 1526; but some years 

 betore this the wood must have been known in Germany, as is evident 

 ^y the treatises written in 1517, 1518, and 1519 by Nicolaus Poll,^ 

 Leonard Schmaus^' and Ulrich von Hutten.' The last which gives a 

 tolerable description of the tree, its wood, bark, and medicinal pro- 

 perties, was translated into English in 1533 by Thomas Payuel, canon 

 ot Merton Abbey, and published in London in 1536 under the title— 



ah 11 ^^'^^^^ ^"^^'^^^ GuoAacum that healeth the Fvenche Pod-es and 

 w hetpeth the gout in the feete, the stomie, the 2mlsey, lepree, drojpsy, 

 r- f-yngeeuyll, and other dyseases." It was several times reprinted. 



in the old pharmacy the products of destructive distillation of 

 ^uaiacuiu wood were known as Oleum ligni sandi. It must have 



nsisted of the substances which we mention further on in the following 



•article. =* 



.Description 



y ^, . - - — ^ v.. pieces of the stem and thick branches, 



dually stripped of bark, and often weighing a hundred weiirht each. 



y-j V --r----" —The wood (alwa3's known in commerce as Lignum 

 ^^^/^Us nnported consists of ,.,.,, -^ , 



3 



IS remarkably heavy and compacfc. Its sp.V- which exceeds that of 

 ^^os|^ woods is about 13. 



^nd ^f ^^^.'^^ V it?e is mostly imported for turnery,' and the chips, raspings 

 ftiacv Y^S^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ly form in which it is commonly seen in phar- 

 li^bt 11 ^' ^ 7 to 8 inches in diameter cut transversely exhibits a 

 detine 1 1 ^^ ^^^^ ^^ sapwood about an inch wide, enclosing a sharply 

 lio-hte ^^^"*^^^^^d of a dark greenish brown. Both display alternate 

 <^^stin ^ T ^^^^^^ layers, which especially in the sapwood are fuiiher 



o^ished by groups of vessels. In this manner are formed a large 

 1 \ - . 



J326. 'loVt^^?.^''''''^ '^^ ^«^ ^"'^^as, Toledo, 



J9 Dec 1517 ^P^^ 1535 but dated 



^'^vember l^'^lft"^''"'* ^mc^a^i^s, Salisburgi; 



^^^^e Ce o^!i?''''' L^^S^- Bat. 1728. 383. 

 * ^^'wS- ^y r^^ «i<^ latter. 



Ttiedicina et viorlo yalUco liber unu-^, 4°, (26 

 chapters) Mogimtiie, 1519. 



^ It is much used for the "wheels {techni- 

 cally ^^sheaves^^) of ships' blocks (pulleys), 

 the circumference of which ought to consist 

 of the white sapwood. It is also required 

 for caulking mallets, skittle balls and for 

 the large balls used in American bowling 

 alleys, for which purposes it should be as 

 sound and homogeneous as possible. 



