IxxxvL Appendix: — Proceedings of 



The Secretary then proceeded to detail the various interesting 

 contributions sent to the Society by Mr. Ondaatje of Badulla. 



1. Specimens of the stem, liber, and a drawing of the 

 Fig tree from which the Kandyan paper was manufactured, 

 together with a specimen of the ashes of the Erythrina Indica, 

 with which the inner bark is boiled, and some of the prepared 

 pulp made into the form of bricks, in which state it could be 

 conveniently exported. 



2. A quantity of Black Hesin, the produce of the Seme- 

 carpus abovatum ; it belongs to the same family of plants as 

 the trees producing the Japan and Indian black varnish. 

 Also a specimen of varnish prepared with this resin and East 

 Indian copal. 



3. Inspissated red juice from the wild nutmeg, of a lami- 

 nated and resinous appearance, translucent at the edges of 

 fracture, of an astringent styptic taste. Forms a variety of the 

 substance known in Commerce under the name of Dragon's 

 Blood. 



Professor Lindley states, on the authority of Endlicher, that 

 a species of Mysistica of the Phillipines " yields a crimson juice, 

 which is collected from incisions in the trunk and used as a 

 substitute for Dragon's Blood." 



4. A very fine sample of meal sago extracted from the 

 Jaggery Palm. 



5. A quantity of the prepared bark of the Toddalia aculata. 

 "It is used in Southern India as a remedy against remittent Fever. 



In the 4th Vol. of the Journal de Pharmacie, p. 298, Dr. Virey gives an 

 account of it. My object in sending it to you is with a view to examine 

 its active principle after extracting it from the bark. The family to 

 which this plant belongs, as you know, is Xanthoxylaceje, and yields 

 a crystalline principle, Xanthopicrite. By touching the inner bark with 

 Nitric acid, you will find it to give a red colour. 



"Dr. O'Shaughnessy has given the following account, derived from 

 French chemists, for preparing Xanthopicrite. 



"Xanthopicrite is prepared by digesting the bark in alcohol, evaporat- 

 ing the tincture to the consistence of an extract, acting on the extract 

 with water and ether in succession ; the residue dissolved in boiling al- 

 cohol gives crystallized Xanthopicrite on cooling and evaporation. It is 



