64 VERBENACEM 



when prepared froDi partly dried wood it is mixed witli tLe sap 

 and forms a greyish brown emulsion. The seeds are of the 

 size and shape of Sesamiim seeds; they are veiy oily, but the 

 difficulty of extracting them from the nuts would make the oil 

 very expensive ; it is a bland, fatty oil, free from any peculiar 

 odour. 



Chemical composition. — Abel in 1854 showed that the wood oi 

 teak freq^uently exhibits cracks and cavities of considerable 

 extent lined with a white crystalline deposit consisting chiefly 

 of hydrocalcic orthophosphate, Ca H PO*, H^O, with about 11'4 

 per cent, aramouio-magnesium phosphate. {C/iem, 8oc. Qii. J- ^^''^ 

 91,) 



This white deposit in the wood of teak has also been examined 

 by Thorns, who found it to consist of monocalcic orthophosphate 

 CaHPO* {Landw. Vemtchs, St xxii., 68 ; xxiii., 413.) More 

 recently still Professor Judd has found in teak a specimen oi 

 crystalline apatite, a well-known mineral containing a large 

 proportion of calcium phosphate. 



'' The formation of this deposit indicates that the wood itself 

 must contain a considerable quantity of phosphoric acid, and 

 the analysis shows this is really the c?ise, as the ash of teak wood 

 is composed as follows : 



CaO MgO FeO K^O Na'O SiO' SO* P^O' CO^ CI 

 31-35 9-74 0*80 1-47 0-04 2i-98 222 29-69 O'Ol 01 



9 



The percentage of carbon and hydrogen are higher than iQ 

 most woods, and this, together with the richness in calcium 

 phosphate and silica, may perhaps account for the great hardness 

 of teak." {WatW Diet. CImnistry, Srd Suppl, p. 1894.) 



Mr. D. Hooper says :— *' The sample from Nilambur was in 

 tbe form of a rounded flattened cake about ten inches in diame- 

 ter and two or three inches in thickness ; dirty white in colour, 

 with a rough gritty surface . A sample was made for analysis 

 by breaking off portions from different parts of the cake and 

 reducing the whole to a fine powder. The powder examined 

 under the microscope was mainly in an amorphous condition 



