140 
Ql^AIAGUM OFFICINALE. 
Museum, it appears to have been first cultivated in this country by 
the Duchess of Beaufort, in 1699. About the year 1508 the wood 
was first used in Spain for the cure of syphilis ; in 1517 its use 
was extended to Italy, and soon after to Germany. This tree grows 
to the height of thirty or forty feet, and to the circumference of 
from three to five, sending out many large knotty branches, which 
divide into numerous sub-divisions ; the wood is extremely compact, 
brittle, and heavier than water ; the bark is thin, of an ash colour, 
and variegated with greenish or purplish spots, streaked, and marked 
with fissures; the leaves are pinnated, consisting of from two to 
four pairs of pinnae, which are of an inversely oval shape, smooth, 
veined, of a bright green, and stand upon short petioles ; the flowers 
are produced in clusters, and stand upon long peduncles, which 
spring from the divisions of the smaller branches ; the calyx is de- 
ciduous, and composed of five concave, oblong, unequal leaves ; 
the petals are five, concave, elliptical, and of a deep blue colour ; the 
stamina are erect, somewhat villous, tapering from the base, and 
crowned by yellow hooked antherae ; the germen is oval and angular ; 
the style is short and tapering, and supports a simple pointed stigma j 
the seeds are soHtary, and of an oblong form. 
The wood of this tree is in great demand for various articles of 
turnery ware, being much admired for the beauty of its colour. It 
is imported in large blocks, of from four to five ewt. each ; the outer 
part is of a pale yellow, the heart of dark blackish brown, more or 
less tinted with green. 
Sensible Properties, &c. Guaiacum wood has scarcely any 
smell unless heated, when it gives out a pleasant aromatic odour ; 
when swallowed in a state of minute division it excites considerable 
burning and acrimony between the palate and fauces. Its pungency 
resides in a resinous matter, which is entirely extracted by digestion 
in rectified spirits, and partially by boiling water ; the bark is less 
resinous than the wood. The quantity of solid extract obtained by 
rectified spirits amounts to about | the weight of the wood ; by 
water scarcely ^ is obtained. 
The gum guaiacum is obtained by diff'erent processes : as by wound- 
ing the bark in different parts of the body of the tree, when it exudes 
copiously, though gradually; when a quantity is found accumu- 
lated, and hardened by exposure to the sun, it is gathered and 
packed in small kegs for exportation ; it is likewise procured by 
sawing the wood into billets, about three feet long, which are then 
bored^longitudinally , and one end of the billet being placed on the 
fire, the gum exudes at the other, and is collected in a calabash. The 
