34 ODOEOGEAPHIA. 



staves. There is a false bottom perforated with auger holes put 

 in about three inches from the solid bottom. The upper head is 

 provided with a trap door for filling the tank, and a larger door is 

 fitted in one end of the bottom of the tank for taking out the 

 exhausted chips. This lower door is luted wdth clay and keyed in 

 place. The chips are loaded in from above, and when the tank is 

 full the upper door is luted in and securely keyed up. Between 

 the false bottom and real bottom of the tank steam is admitted 

 through a IJ inch pipe. The steam, at 40 lbs. pressure, is at first 

 admitted cautiously, but after it has permeated the mass of chips 

 and has made its way to the top, which usually takes about three 

 hours, the pressure can be increased to 50 or 60 lbs. The steam 

 passes through a copper head fitted into the upper part of the 

 tank, and thence through a coil of pipe in a tank of cold water ; a 

 2 inch stream of cold water being kept running through the 

 condensor during the whole time. It usually takes about fifty 

 hours continuous steaming to exhaust the oil (by this process) from 

 20,000 lbs. of chips ; the average yield being about a gallon of oil 

 from each 1,000 lbs. of chips. The stream of condensed products 

 which runs from the worm is caught in a copper funnel having a 

 very long spout wdiich reaches nearly to the bottom of a copper 

 vessel of about 20 gallons capacity. This vessel has a spout near 

 the top through which the w^aste water overflows, while the oil, 

 being heavier than water, remains at the bottom, and is drawn off 

 by a tap in a thin, steady stream during the process of 

 distillation. 



The bark should be collected late in the autumn, or in the 

 spring before the leaves appear. The pith is principally derived 

 from the branches and twisjs, and is said to be most valuable if 

 obtained in the autumn after a frost. 



The bulk of the commercial oil of sassafras is produced in the 

 United States, and the principal market for the roots, bark, pith* 

 and oil are New York and Baltimore. The above-mentioned yield 



* The pith is not employerl as an aromatic. It is found in slender 

 cylindrical pieces, ^vhich are very light and spongy, with a slightly mucilaginous 

 taste, and when fresh a feeble flavour of sassafras. It forms a limpid mucilage 

 with water. This mucilage may be prepared by adding 60 grains of the pith to 

 a pint of boiling water. It is much employed in the United States as a 

 demulcent application in inflammatory affections of the eyes, and as a soothing 

 drink in catarrhal and other diseases where demulcents are useful. It differs 

 from mucilage of gum arable in remaining liquid when alcohol is added to it. 



