HAEMATOXYLON 161 



HAEMATOXYLON (Logwood) 

 In all editions of U. S. P. from 1820 to 1900. Dropped in 1910. 



Logwood, Hematoxylon campechianum, L., is the 

 wood of a tree used throughout the civilized world as a 

 dye stuff, its use being most largely in this direction. 

 The tree is native to Central America, it being abundant 

 in Campeachy, Honduras, and other sections of that 

 country. Fliickiger (239) accepts that the wood was 

 introduced into England in the latter half of the 16th 

 century, because in 1581 its use was abolished by act 

 of Parliament, for the reason that it was considered a 

 poor substitute for better dyes, and it was viewed in 

 the light of a sophisticant. Eighty years later, probably 

 because a better study had rendered its use more prac- 

 ticable, logwood was again permitted to enter England. 

 According to De Laet (368), 1633, one of the names 

 by which it was commonly known, Peachwood, was de- 

 rived from the town of Campeachy, whence the wood 

 was exported in quantities to Europe. The accounts 

 of travelers and sailors at the time of the great excite- 

 ment produced by the discovery of the abundant 

 sources of wealth in the new world almost universally 

 mentioned logwood. This is evident from such records 

 as appear in sailors' descriptions of their voyages, in 

 Chambers Miscellany, and elsewhere. 



In the form of a decoction of its chips, logwood has 

 been a favorite in domestic medicine, and owing to its 

 mild astringency, it was used for a considerable time 

 by licensed physicians. In 1746, under the name Lig- 

 num tinctile Campechense, it became official in the 

 London Pharmacopeia. 



