LIGNUM PTEROCARPI. 201 



coloured small parenchymatous layere, runniug from one vascular 

 bundle to another. The whole tissue is finally traversed by very narrow 

 medullary rays, which are scarcely perceptible to the unaided eye. 

 The parenchymatous cells are each loaded with one crystal of oxalate of 

 calcium, which are so large that, in a piece of the wood broken longi- 

 tudinally, they may be distinguished without a lens. The colouring 

 matter is contained especially in the walls of the vessels and the 

 ligneous cells. 



Chemical Composition — Cold water or fatty oil (almond or olive) 

 abstracts scarcely anything from the wood, and hot water but very 

 little. On the other hand, ether, spirit of wine, alkaline solutions, or 

 concentrated acetic acid, readily dissolves out the colouring matter. 

 Essential oils of bitter almond or clove take up a good deal of the red 

 .substance; that of turpentine none at all. This resinoid substance, 

 termed Scmtalic Acid or Santalin,^ is said to form microscopic pris- 

 matic crystals of a fine ruby colour, devoid of odour and taste, fusing at 

 104° C, insoluble in water but neutralizing alkalis and forming with 

 them uncrystallizable salts. 



Weidel (1870) exhausted the wood with boiling water, containing a 

 little potash, and obtained by means of hydrochloric acid a red preci- 

 pitate, which was redissolved in boiling alcohol and then furnished 

 colourless crystals of Santal, C^ffO^ They are devoid of odour or 

 taste, not soluble in water, benzol, chloroform, bisulphide of carbon, and 

 but sparingly in ether. Santal yields with potash a faintly yellow 

 solution which soon turns red and green. The wood afibrded Weidel 

 not more than 3 per miUe of santal. 



Cazeneuve (1874)" mixed 4 parts of the wood with 1 part of slaked 

 lime, and exhausted the dried powder with ether containing a little- 

 alcohol. After the evaporation of the ether, a small amount of colour- 

 less crystals of Pterocarpin was obtained, which were purified by re- 

 ciystallizatiou from boiling alcohol. They melt at 83° C, and are 

 abundantly soluble in chlorofomi, in bisulphide of carbon, very little 

 in cold alcohol, not at all in water. Pterocarpin agrees with the 

 formula C^'H^^O*. It yields a red solution with concentrated sulphuric 

 acid, and a gi-een with nitric acid 1'4 sp. gr. By submitting it to 

 destructive distillation pyrocatechin appears to be formed. 



Franchimont (1879) assigns the formula C^'ff^O* to another princi- 

 ple of Red Sanders Wood, which he isolated by means of alcohol. It 

 is an amorphous substance, melting at 105°. By extracting the wood 

 with a solution of carbonate of sodium, Hagenbach (1872) obtained a 

 fluorescent solution. Red Sanders Wood yielded us of ash only OS 

 per cent. 



Commerce — In the official year 1869-70, Red Sanders Wood pro- 

 duced to the Madras Government a revenue of 26,015 rupees (£2,601). 

 The quantity taken from the forests was reported as 1,161,799 lb. 



^ Gmelin, CAenitsiry, xvi. (1864) 259; the taline, p. 1434, and for particulars: 



formula assigned to santalic acid (C^'H^^*) Cazeneuve, Recherche et extraction ilea alca- 



appears to be doubtfuL Weidel in propos- /oft/e.*, etc. Paris, 1875. 66. It would appear 



iug the formula C'^H'-O^ points out that that the author obtained about 4 per 



it may be allied to alizarin, C"H*0^. mille of pterocarpin from the wood. 



* See Dictionnaire de Chimie, art. San- 



