1886.] SOCIETIES. 703 



This is not merely a question for antiquaries. I have shown 

 clearly and often that this chestnut delusion is mischievous. Some 

 ten years ago, a large timber bridge over the liiver Wye in Here- 

 fordshire had to be taken down after standing less than twenty 

 years, owing to its having been built of Spanish chestnut, in the 

 belief that that timber was equal in durability to oak. 



Thos. Blashill. 



BoCiETiES. 



EDINBURGH BOTANICAL SOCIETY. 



THE Botanical Society of Edinburgh met on Thursday, 11th 

 February 1886, in 5 St. Andrew Square — Professor Dickson 

 presiding. Mr. A. Galletly, Curator of the Edinburgh Museum of 

 Science and Art, made a communication on " Some of the Properties 

 of Eosewood." At the outset the paper gave an account of the 

 introduction of Brazilian rosewood for furniture purposes, fully 200 

 years ago, and referred to its abundance and distribution in the 

 provinces on the east side of Brazil. It also stated that, notwith- 

 standing the importance of rosewood as a product of Brazil, the 

 exports from that country being of the annual value of £100,000, 

 and the length of time it has been used as a cabinetmaker's wood, 

 the species of tree which yields the wood is not yet known. Some 

 account of the nature of the wood was then given, such as its odour 

 of roses when fresh ; its hardness, durability, and beauty, and more 

 particularly its highly resinous character. Then followed what it was 

 the main object of the paper to illustrate, namely, the nature of the 

 resins and resinous colouring matters extracted from the wood by 

 naphtha, ether, and alcohol. These extracts, which amounted in most 

 of the samples tried to about 20 per cent, of the wood, have a con- 

 siderable resemblance to the pinewood resins, but, unlike them, the 

 rosewood, alcohol, and ether extracts have a strong tinctorial power. 

 A comparison was tlien made between the extracts of Brazilian rose- 

 wood and those of their supposed allies in East India, namely, the 

 two dark heavy woods called the Sissoo and the East Indian rosewood 

 or blackwood, both being species of Dalhcryia. The result of a number 

 of experiments showed that the resinous matters in those rose- 

 woods closely resemble each other both in nature and quantity. 

 It was also stated that some at least of the extracts of teak and 

 greenheart differed very much from those of the . rosewoods, 



