188 H. G. SMITH. 



of Tinonee, New South Wales, he refers to this peculiarity 

 as follows : — " Port Macquarie Beech contains something 

 of a very cleansing nature. We have a planing machine, 

 and, of course, it gets dirty and stuck all over with sap 

 and dust from tallow- wood and other hardwoods, but as 

 soon as we have put through a few beech boards, where- 

 ever the sappy chippings strike, the ironwork of the 

 machine becomes clean and as bright as new." 



Another saw-miller also mentioned that he had seen 

 whitish deposits in "beech" timber, but thought them to 

 be a fungoid growth. 



The first well defined deposit of this substance came into 

 the possession of the Technological Museum a few years 

 ago, and as much work as possible was, at that time, 

 carried out with it, a crystalline body being isolated, and 

 its melting point determined. About two years later a 

 small quantity was received from another locality, and 

 similar crystals were again isolated from it and found to be 

 identical in appearance with the first, and to melt at the 

 same temperature. Through the kindly assistance of Mr. 

 Breckenridge, a Sydney timber merchant, a portion of a 

 beech log in a very unsound condition was recently obtained 

 from which a few grams of pure crystals were extracted, 

 sufficient to enable a more extended investigation to be 

 undertaken. 



The crystals obtained from all the trees from the various 

 localities were colourless, odourless and tasteless, and were 

 identical in crystalline form, in melting point, in optical 

 activity, and exhibited the same peculiarity in the melting 

 points of the substance when in either the crystalline or 

 the amorphous conditions. From this it is apparent that 

 the deposit is a common constituent in the timber of this 

 species of Gmelina, and also that it is a definite chemical 

 substance. It is possible that it may be characteristic of 



