0 
We know so little about the accumulation of “ earthy ” matter in the stems 
of trees that the following information in regard to such substances in Indian 
timbers is valuable. 
Presumably the lime must be taken up in solution by the roots in large 
quantities, and then deposited in the manner described. 
Some white rnai'ks on the cut stump of an Asan tree ( Terminalia tomentosa, ~W. and A.) caught 
my eye, and these on examination proved to be sections or laminae of calcareous matter, which alternated 
with the ordinary rings of woody growth. Hovf this calcareous matter found its way into such a position 
it is difficult to say ; but its occurrence is, perhaps, not more singular than that of silica in the joints of 
bamboos, where, as is well known, it sometimes forms what is called “ tabasheer.” The rocks about were 
gneisses and schists, and I could discover nothing in the soil to account for the peculiarity. 
About a year previously, or in April, 1870, the fact of the occurrence of calcareous masses in 
timber had been brought to the notice of the Asiatic Society of Bengal by Mr. R. V. Stoney, who stated 
that many trees in the Orissa Tributary Mehals have pieces of limestone (or calcareous tufa) in fissures in 
them ; but principally Asan (Terminalia tomentosa, W. and A.), Swarm (Zizphus rugosa, Lam. ?), Sissu 
(Dalbergia sissu, Roxb.), and Abnus (Diospyros melanoxylon, Roxb.). In some cases, irregular-shaped 
pieces, 7 inches long by 2 inches thick, were met with in the trunks at a height of about 6 feet from the 
ground. By the natives the lime is burnt, and used for chewing with pawn. On examination it was 
found that there was no structure in these masses which would justify a conclusion that they had been 
formed by insects. Some included portions of decayed wood seemed to be cemented together by the lime. 
Though I have not had an opportunity of consulting many botanists on the subject, I believe it to be the 
case that the occurrence of deposits of carbonate of lime in timber has not been met with elsewhere. 
Oxalate of lime is sometimes met with in vegetable tissues ; but in the form of carbonate, I am informed, 
however, that there is no record case of lime have been found, and such also appears to have been the 
opinion of the late Dr. Kurz. (J. Ball in Nature, xxi, 376.) 
[Following is information supplementary to the preceding:— 
That Terminalia tomentosa contains calcareous matter has been known to natives, and a reference 
to Tennent’s “Ceylon,” i, 99, will show that they make a practical use of their knowledge by using the 
ashes of the bark as the substitute for lime, to chew with betel. Another southern tree which contains an 
alkali in its bark is Avicennia tomentosa. Again, as regards Mr. Stoney’s observation of calcareous masses 
in timber, which was brought to the notice of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1870 as a fresh discovery, it 
seems strange that the learned body in question did not know that the existence of such concretions, so far 
as from being very rare, is an occasional and well-known phenomenon. Thus, in the Madras Journal of 
Literature and Science for April-September, 1858, page 142, Prof. Mayer gives a qualitative analysis of 
the concretion of the kind found in a teak log. It consisted chiefly of magnesia, with potash, lime, silica, 
and a trace of iron. The substance, he says, “ must be looked on as a mixture, and not a true chemical 
compound.” Again, he observes, “as a whole the substance thus hardened is insoluble in cold, and but 
slightly so in water of higher temperature. At 212 deg., however, there is sensible action after a time. 
In diluted hydrochloric acid solubility ensues, hastened by increased temperature. Solution is attended by 
a slight effervescence, some carbonic acid being liberated.” He then proceeds to give an explanation of the 
process by which such mineral matters may be taken up from the soil and deposited in the tree. So far as 
I know the occurrence of such concretions in India was first brought to notice by Lieutenant, now Colonel 
Hawkes, of the Madras Army, in 1858. He had seen them only in teak logs, and remarked that they 
generally occur “ in what carpenters call a shake in the wood, but with this exception the logs are perfectly 
sound, and no communication whatever with the external air has been observed.” (G. Bidie, Madras, 
Nature, xxii, 169.) 
Size. —It rarely attains a height of more than 60 feet to 80 feet, and a stem 
diameter of more than 2 feet or 3 feet. But its sapwood is small and there is little waste. 
Given even moderately favourable conditions it is a very rapid grower, at all events 
for the first few years. I do not think it is a long-lived tree, at all events as regards 
cultivated specimens, usually exhibiting signs of senile decay after fifty years. 
