URTIGACE^. 317 



P 



4 



Thunberg says : — *"^Tlie tree is called by the Dutch Strtmi- 

 houf, and by the Cingalese Urenne^ on account of its disgusting 

 odour, which resides especially in the thick stem and the larger 

 branches. The smell of it so perfectly resembles that of human 

 ordure, that one cannot perceive the smallest difference between 

 them. When the tree is rasped, and the raspings are sprinkled 

 with water^ the stench is quite intolerable. It is neverthe- 

 less taken internally by the Cingalese as an efficacious remedy. 

 When scraped fine and mixed with lemon juice, it is taken 

 internally, as a purifier of the blood in itch and other cutaneous 

 eruptions, the body being at the same time anointed with it 

 externally." {Thunherg's Travels^ iv,, 234.) 



Thunberg obtained leaves and young plants of the tree, but 

 no blossoms; the plants were all killed by cold in the English 

 Channel. 



The Portuguese call the wood Pao de merda or Fao siijo. In 

 India it is burnt as a fumigatory to drive away evil spirits; the 

 bazar name signifies '^ hellish incense." In Ceylon, according 

 to Mr. J. Alexander, it is hung up near dwelling-houses as a 

 charm to keep away evil spirits. As sold in the bazars it is a 

 light-brown wood in irregular- shaped pieces, having a pene- 

 trating odour, exactly similar to that of fresh human ordure. 



Chemical composition. — The wood has been examined by Prof. 

 AY, R. Dunstan. By distillation with water a minute quantity 

 of a solid crystalline substance was obtained. It possessed a 

 fsecal odour, and after purification melted at 93 '5*^0, Its 

 physical and chemical properties were not those of a-naph- 

 thylamine. It afforded a crystalline picrate, by the analysis of 

 which the substance was shown to possess the composition of 

 methyl-indole (C^H^Nj, and by its physical and chemical 

 properties it was proved to be identical with the Pr. 3 methyl- 

 indole, or skatole, which Brieger isolated in 1877 from human 

 faeces, and Salkowski soon afterwards obtained from among the 

 putrefaction products of animal proteid. Nenchi has observed 

 the formation of the same substance when potash is fused with 

 albumen^ and it has also been prepared synthetically. Skatole 



