286 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



be unsatisfactory. We therefore quote from him, as 

 follows : 



"Sanskrit writers mention two kinds of sandal wood, 

 (Chandana): the darker, heartwood, they call Pita- 

 chandana, or yellow Sandal; and the lighter wood, 

 Srikhanda, or white Sandal. Chandana is mentioned 

 in the Nirukta, or writings of Yaska, the oldest Vedic 

 commentary extant, said to be written not later than 

 the 5th century B. C. It is also referred to in the 

 ancient epic poems of the Hindus, the Ramayana and 

 Mahabharata. 



"According to the Kathasaritsagara, it is one of the 

 trees of the Buddhic paradise, and the chariot of the 

 sun is made of its wood bound with gold. 



"Under the namegandh (perfume), sandal wood paste 

 is largely used hi Hindu ceremonial, being smeared 

 upon idols and upon the foreheads of their worshippers. 

 The wood is chiefly consumed at the chita or funeral 

 pile, even comparatively poor people spending as much 

 as fifty rupees upon it. 



"Sandalwood logs are about a yard in length and 5 to 

 6 inches in diameter; they are stripped of the bark, and 

 a portion of the sap wood. Andreas Peterson of Copen- 

 hagen, who hi 1886 made a very careful investigation 

 of the wood, says: 'It is very homogeneous, rather 

 hard and ponderous, although it does not sink in water. 

 The heartwood is pale reddish, with darker reddish- 

 brown and brighter yellowish concentric zones, which, 

 examined under the microscope, prove to be annual 

 rings. In the inner part of the wood they are some- 

 times very wide, measuring, for instance, as much as 

 seven millimetres. Possibly, therefore, they do not 



