118 WOOD OIL-GURJUN BALSAM. 



1856. the name of Balsam Capivi, but known in India as Wood Oil, or 

 Gurjan Balsam. 



To Balsam of Copaiba, however, it presents so remarkable a 

 resemblance, that, but for the locality from which it was imported, 

 it would hardly have been noticed as anything else than Copaiba 

 of rather unusually dark colour. 



In the Paris Universal Exhibition there are two samples of a 

 Wood Oil, similar liquid, labelled Wood Oil, one of them being sent among 

 the Materia Medica of Canara, the other from the Tenasserim 

 provinces. Through the kindness of Dr. Royle, specimens of 

 each have been placed at my disposal. Though comparatively a 

 new drug in English trade, Wood Oil is an article of common 

 occurrence in the bazaars of India. 



From its similarity to Copaiba, it might be supposed to have 

 its origin in some plant nearly allied to Copaifera : such, however, 

 is not the case, it being the produce of the natural order Diptero- 

 carpece. 



Mode of ob- The following is Boxburgh's account of the manner of obtain- 

 6 i n o & from Dipterocarpus turbinatus, an immense tree, native of 

 Chittagong, Tipperah, Pegu, and other places to the eastward 

 of Benal. 1 





" This tree is famous over all the Eastern parts of India and 

 the Malay Islands, on account of its yielding a thin liquid 

 balsam, commonly called Wood Oil, which is much used for 

 painting ships and houses. 



" To procure the balsam, a large notch is cut into the trunk 

 of the tree, near the earth (say about 30 inches from the ground), 

 where a fire is kept up until the wood is charred, soon after which 

 the liquid begins to ooze out. A small gutter is cut in the wood 

 to conduct the liquid into a vessel placed to receive it. The 

 average produce of the best trees during the season, is said to 

 be sometimes 40 gallons. It is found necessary, every 3 or 4 

 weeks, to cut off the old charred surfaces and burn it afresh ; in 

 large healthy trees abounding in balsam, they even cut a second 

 notch in some other part of the tree, and char it as the first 



" These operations are performed during the months of No- 

 vember, December, January, and February. Should any of the 



1 Flora Indica (ed. Carey), vol. ii. p. 613. 



