JULY — SEPT. 1857.] 
IVood Oil. 
285 
Among tlie drugs that have recently appeared in tlie London market, 
I have observed one article to which I am desirous of drawing attention. 
It is a liquid imported in considerable quantity from Moulmein in Burmah, 
and offered for sale under the name of Balsam Capivi, but known in India 
as Wood Oil or Gurjun Balsam. 
To Balsam of Copaiba, however, it presents so remarkable a resem- 
blance, that, but for the locality from which it was imported, it would 
hardly have been noticed as anything else than Copaiba of rather unusual- 
ly dark colour. 
In the Paris Universal Exlubition there are two samples of a similar 
liquid, labelled Wgod Oil, one of them being sent among the Materia Me- 
dica of Canara, the (jfher 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 Dipterocarpeoe. 
The following is Roxburgh's account of the manner of obtaining it from 
Dipterocarpus turhinatus, an immense tree, native of Chittagong, Tip- 
perah, Pegue, and other places to the eastward of Bengal.* 
* 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, houses, &c. 
' To prociu-e 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 wound 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 November, De- 
cember, January and February. Should any of the trees appear sickly 
the following season, one or more years' respite is given them.' 
* Flora Indica (ed. Carey) vol. ii. p. 613. 
