no THE PRINCIPAL SPECIES OF WOOD. 



the best pieces, of true boxwood in billets three to twelve inches 

 across, are from Circassia and Odessa. It is hard to season 

 boxwood so that it will not crack. Eastern turners are said to 

 place it in dark cellars for several years before use. Boxwood 

 is valued for mathematical instruments, and no other wood has 

 ever proved so successful for fine engravings. American sub- 

 stitutes are coarser. American boxwood is chiefly derived from 

 the Flowering Dogwood ; the Mexican Persimmon, and the Rose 

 Bay. In Australia several species of Eucalyptus are said to be 

 used. Lignumvitae is noted for great strength and hardness. 

 Layers of fibres alternately cross one another so that the wood 

 may be said to crumble rather than split. It has no superior 

 for implements that must be fine, true, and strong, such as the 

 sheaves of pulleys and handles of tools. The supply is obtained 

 from two species (Guajacum sanctum and Guajacum officinale). 



Holly may be known by its foliage and berries. Box 

 (Buxus) has small, smooth, ovate, dark, evergreen leaves 

 joining the stem so as to be opposite one[another. The Dogwood 

 is known by its flowers. The Lignumvitae is a low gnarled tree. 



Lignumvitae ties, so hard that "holes must be bored 

 for spikes," have lasted for thirty or forty years on the 

 Panama Railway. These ties were finally removed because 

 they had rubbed against the road covering until they were 

 round, and also because some of them had from the first, been 

 too small to afford proper bearing for the rails; but the wood 

 had not rotted, even in that moist, hot district, nor had the 

 rails cut far into the ties.* It is said that Lignumvitae was 

 introduced into Europe shortly after the discovery of America: 

 it became noted for medicinal properties that are yet recognized, 

 although of doubtful real value. A resin called Guajac or 

 Guaiac, obtained by tapping trees or else warming billets of 

 wood from perforations in which melted resins flow, has been 

 employed, in tincture, as a reagent, for the detection of blood 

 stains. The name Lignumvitae originated from the supposition 

 that extracts possessed extraordinary remedial powers.t 



* Correspondence Mr. Gustave R. Tuska, A. Am. Soc. C. E., late Engineer 

 Panama Railway. Also Trans. Am. Soc. C. E., Vol. 52, page 66. 

 t U. S. Dispensatory. 



