IN EXTRA-TROPICAL COUNTRIES. 115 



8 feet, and at 210 feet a diameter of 5 feet. The wood is fissile, 

 well adapted for shingles, rails, for house-building, hoops for 

 waggons, for the keelson and planking of ships, and other purposes, 

 but it is not a strong wood ; that of the smaller rough-barked 

 variety has proved lasting for fence-posts. Labillardiere's name 

 applies ill to any of the forms of this species. Seedlings raised on 

 rather barren ground near Melbourne have shown the same amazing 

 rapidity of growth as those of E. globulus ; yet, like those of E. 

 obliqua, they are not so easily satisfied with any soil. In the south 

 of France this tree grew to a height of 50 feet in eight years. It has 

 endured the frosts of the milder parts of England, with E. poly- 

 aiithemos and E. viminalis. In New Zealand it has survived the 

 cold, where E. globulus succumbed. E. amygdalina, E. urnigera, 

 E. coccifera, E. rostrata and E. corymbosa have proved at Rome, 

 according to the Rev. M. Gildas, more hardy than E. globulus, E. 

 diver sicolor, E. resiirifera, E. longifolia, and E. melliodora. The 

 now well-known medicinal Eucalyptus oil, the distillation of which 

 was initiated by the writer, is furnished in greater or smaller pro- 

 portion by all the different species. It was first brought exten- 

 sively into commerce by Mr. Bosisto, who has the credit of having 

 ascertained many of the properties of this oil for technic application. 

 It is this species which yields more volatile oil than any other 

 hitherto tested, and which therefore is largely chosen for distilla- 

 tion ; thus it is also one of the best for subduing malarian effluvia 

 in fever regions, although it does not grow with quite the same 

 ease and celerity as E. globulus. The respective hygienic value of 

 various Eucalypts may to some extent be judged from the per- 

 centage of oil in their foliage, as stated below, and as ascertained 

 by Mr. Bosisto, at the author's instance, for the Exhibition of 

 1862 : 



E. amygdalina 3'313 per cent, volatile oil. 



E. oleosa 1'250 



E. leucoxylon I'OGO 



E. goniocalyx 0'914 



E. globulus 0719 



E. obliqua 0'500 



The lesser quantity of oil of E. globulus is however compensated 

 for by the vigour of its growth and the early copiousness of its 

 foliage. The proportion of oil varies also somewhat according to 

 locality and season. E. rostrata, though one of the poorest in oil, 

 is nevertheless important for malaria regions, as it will grow well 

 on periodically inundated places, and even in stagnant water not 

 saline. E. oleosa (F. v. M.) from the desert regions of extra- 

 tropical Australia, might be reared on barren sands of other 

 countries for the sake of its oil. According to Mr. Osborne's 

 experiment, initiated by myself, Eucalyptus oils dissolve the 

 following among other substances for select varnishes and other 



