LIGNUMVITJ:, 165 



5. LiGNUM\iT.B. — The Lignwnvita; of commerce 

 (Giiaiacum Officinale) is a dark-lookinp; cvcroreen, 

 and ij,Tou s to a great size in the West India Islands, of 

 which it is a nati\c. It hears bhie flowers, which 

 are succeeded by roundish capsules. In its native 

 climate the Lii^numvita* is a very hardy tree, and 

 retains its jjreenness in the dryest weather. It strikes 

 its roots deep into the g;round, and thus defies the 

 hurricane as well as the drought. The bark is hard, 

 smooth, and brittle ; and the wood is of a yellowish, 

 or, rather, olive colour, with the graiii crossing- in a 

 sort of irregular lozenge-work. Lignumvita; is the 

 weightiest timber with which we are acquainted, and 

 it is the most difficult to work. It can hardly be spht, 

 but breaks into pieces like a stone or crystaUized 

 metal. It is full of resinous juice, which prevents 

 oil or water from working into it ; and it is, there- 

 fore, proof against decay. Its weight and hardness 

 make it the very best timber for stampers and mallets 

 of all sorts ; and its resinous matter fits it the best 

 for the sheaves or pulleys of blocks, and for friction 

 rollers and castors. A sheave of hgnumvitaj cuts a 

 wooden pin less, and is less cut by a metal one, than 

 a sheave of any other timber ; while its own sap 

 makes it work as smoothly as other timber even when 

 smeared with grease, black-lead, or any other anti- 

 attrition application. Lignumvitae is much used in 

 our dock-yards for sheaves ; and its application may 

 be seen upon a grand scale, in the beautifiil block- 

 machinery at Portsmouth. 



When full grown, the largest lignumvita; trees are 

 from forty to fifty feet in height, and from fourteen 

 to eighteen inches in diameter. Like the other resi- 

 nous trees, it contains sapwood, which is of lighter 

 colour than the heart ; but, though not so hard, the 

 light part is a weighty and strong timber, and not 

 liable to separate from the other. 



The resin of the lignumvitae. Gum Guaiacum of 



