LIGNUM VIT^E. 127 
rind ; and the pulp is of a deeper shining black colour, 
sweeter, and more agreeable to the taste. In choosing 
cassia, those pods should be selected which are the 
heaviest, and in which the seeds do not rattle on being 
shaken. 
138. LIGNUM V1T1E and GUIACUM are the wood and 
resin of a large West Indian tree (Guiacum officinale, Fig. 77) 
which has winged leaves in two sets upon one foot stalky and regular 
flowers office petals. 
The usual height of this free is between thirty and forty feet. 
The leaves consist of two y three, and sometimes four pairs of 
leaflets, which are somewhat oval, and of shining dark green colour. 
The flowers spring, in clusters, from the division of the smaller 
branches; the petals are of a rich blue colour, and the stamens are 
crowned with yellowish anthers. 
The wood, resin, bark, and even the flowers of this 
tree, are all of use either in the mechanical arts or in 
medicine. The former, 'which is yellow towards the 
outside, of deep blackish brown colour in the centre, 
and so compact and heavy as to sink, when immersed 
in water, is chiefly employed in the West Indies for 
the wheels and cogs of sugar mills. It is also formed 
into mortars, bowls, and domestic utensils of various 
kinds, for which, on account of its hardness, and not" 
being liable to warp, it is peculiarly valuable. Lignum 
vitae is chiefly imported into this country from Jamaica, 
in logs or pieces of four or five hundred pounds' weight 
each, and is in great request for school-boys' rulers, 
and numerous articles of turnery ware. A decoction of 
the wood, when rasped, is occasionally administered as 
a medicine in rheumatic and gouty affections. 
The resin of this tree is sometimes obtained by 
wounding the bark in different parts. It exudes 
through the wounds ; and, when sufficiently hardened 
by exposure to the sun, is tatyen off, and packed in 
small kegs for exportation. Sometimes it is obtained 
by sawing the wood into billets, each about three feet in 
length, which are then bored with an augur longitu- 
dinally, and laid upon a fire, in such position that the 
