93 
Timber. —Timber hard and close-grained, and emitting a very pleasant 
fragrance when freshly cut or re-worked, sap-wood of a creamy-pink, heart-wood 
flesh coloured. It works splendidly, and is excellent for cabinet work. It takes a 
fine polish ; specific gravity, - S28. 
It is durable, not liable to warp according to some people; and Mr. John 
Duff says of it, " I believe no indigenous wood yet tested is better adapted for wood¬ 
en graving.’ 5 
Dor an account of a microscopical examination of the wood, with drawings, 
see Pharrn. Joitrn. [3], XVI, 759. 
The timber was used by the natives of the Lachlan Elver, Western New 
South Wales, for obtaining fire by friction. “ Two pegs are driven firmly into the 
ground about a foot apart, a slotted piece of Quandong wood is then placed against 
these pegs, a small Avedge is tapped lightly into the groove to keep it open, and some 
finely-rubbed dry grass or bark fibre is placed in the groove or slot; the native then 
sits down on the ground, and placing his heels against the grooA r ed piece opposite 
the pegs, holds it firmly in position, and with a piece of Quandong Avood shaped like 
a paper-knife, rubs quickly and heavily across the groove Avliere the grass, &c., has 
been placed. The friction soon produces combustion of the grass; the wedge is 
then tapped in order to open the groove Avider, the smouldering grass is shaken out 
into a ball of dry grass ready for the purpose, and the whole waved backAvards and 
forwards for a minute or tAvo until the flame is produced.” (K. H. Bennett, in a 
letter to the author.) 
Oil. —The timber is used to some extent for the distillation of an oil, as the 
folloAving passage will sIioav. Santalum Preissianum is, of course, a synonym of 
Fuscanus acuminatus. 
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN SANDALWOOD OIL. 
Santalum Preissianum, Miq., known as “Quandong” in Australia, bears edible fruits known as 
native peaches. The wood is dark-brown, of very dense and tough texture and unusually hard and heavy. 
It contains 5 p.c. of a viscid, cherry-red oil, sp. gr. U022. The odor is pleasantly balsamic, reminding one 
• somewhat'of roses. Upon standing the oil separates crystals, which by recrystallisation are obtained in 
prisms melting at 105-105’.* 
Composition .—The crystalline constituent of the oil has been examined by Berkenheimf (1892). 
He found the melting point 101-103’, and assigned to it the formula The substance is an 
alcohol, the acetic ester of which crystallises in hexagonal plates, melting at 68 - 5 to G9 - 5°. With phos¬ 
phorus trichloride it yields a chloride, G 15 H 23 OCI., m.p. 119-1205 0 ; phosphorous pentachloride does not 
act on the alcohol. The methyl ether obtained by means of the sodium compound of the alcohol is liquid 
Potassium permanganate oxidizes it to a liquid acid C r Hj 4 0 2 .—“ The Volatile Oils,” Gildemeister and 
Hoffmann (Krcmer’s trans.), p. 311, 
I aa ill deal with flic oil of allied species of Fttsanus and Santalum at page 100.. 
* Bcriclit von Schimmel il- Co., Apr., 1891, p. 49 ; and Oct., 1891, p. 33. 
+ Ztitxchr. d. Rush Ptnjs. Chou. G'es , 24, p. 6S8; Abstr. Chon, Centralbl ., 1S93, I, p. 986. 
D 
