December 31,1370.] THE FII ARM ACE UTI CAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
529 
matter, therefore, was evidently set free, but the quan¬ 
tity at command was too small to admit of a more 
minute examination. The red alkaline filtrate gave a 
bulky precipitate with alum ; but when this precipitate 
was filtered off, neither the precipitate nor the filtrate 
any longer afforded a trace of colour with potash. The 
liberated colouring substance does not seem to enter into 
combination with nitrate of silver, nor is it visibly 
• affected by corrosive sublimate, sulphocyanide of potas¬ 
sium, chloride of gold, or bichromate of potassium. With 
persalts of iron it gives a permanent rich brown colour. 
From these experiments it may be gathered that the 
. colouring material is tolerably stable, that it combines 
with basic acetate of lead, and can still be detected in 
■ that state of union by the potash test. It is highly pro¬ 
bable that the colour-developing substance is a feeble 
acid derived from the intra-vascular oxidation of the 
santonin, and in support of suoh a view an experiment of 
Mialhe may be brought forward. 
When santonin, in powder, is submitted to boiling- 
nitric acid, a product is obtained which, after saturation, 
gives, with water, a greenish-yellow solution, analogous 
in appearance to that which urine assumes under the in¬ 
fluence of santonin. This liquid, when treated with an 
alkaline base, immediately developes a deep orange-red 
coloration similar to that which urine secreted after the 
ingestion of santonin assumes with alkalies. This expe¬ 
riment has been repeated on the white and yellow forms 
of santonin, and with corresponding results; yet, though 
the reddened alkaline fluid gave an abundant yellow 
precipitate with basic acetate of lead, neither the preci- 
.pitate nor its filtrate were any longer coloured by 
potash. Neither could any coloration be obtained on 
decomposing the lead precipitate with sulphuric acid, 
and testing the fluid decanted from the sulphate of lead 
with potash. If in these respects the artificial colouring 
matter fails in its analogy to the natural colouring sub¬ 
stance in santonic urine, still Mialhe’s experiment may 
be regarded as indicating the direction in which to seek 
for the cause of the natural phenomenon. 
PRODUCTS OF THE ISLAND OF HAINAN. 
BY 11. SWINHOE. 
The visitor from China is specially struck with the 
^abundance of the cocoa-nut-tree—a tree not found in 
the latitude of Canton—which meets the eye on all points 
of the island coast. In spite of the winter monsoon, it 
flourishes best in the north-east corner of Hainan, in the 
■district of Wenechang. Further in the interior, as the 
ground rises, the pine (Finns sinensis ) appears, and in 
-some spots clumps of pine and tope-s of cocoa-nut grow 
■side by side. The cocoa-nut also was found growing on 
the opposite shore of the Luichow peninsula, and on the 
small island of Naochow, off the right of the peninsula, 
in latitude 20° 45'. The cocoa-nut is not known in 
Formosa, excepting in one spot at the foot of the moun¬ 
tains, about twenty miles from the S.W. coast, where a 
few trees flourish, which there is good reason to believe 
were introduced by the Dutch. The areca was every¬ 
where largely cultivated, as it is also in South China and 
Formosa. Fine banyans shaded the villages, growing to 
a large size. I observed three species—the ordinary 
Ficus nitida, a large-leaved species found also about 
Canton, and a species with small glabrous leaf and yellow 
berry—all equally grand and umbrageous trees. On the 
high-road to the capital and about the city itself two 
peculiar trees presented themselves—the one with black 
pods, ten inches long, hanging downwards all over it; 
the other, with long scimitar-shaped pods, twenty inches 
long, covered with an ochreous woolly down. Both 
these were new to me, and I brought home specimens of 
the pods, and submitted them to Mr. Bennett, of the 
British Museum, who pronounces the first an Ascle- 
piadeous tree of an unknown species, and the latter a 
Spathodea , nearly related to Spathodca stipulata. Other 
village trees not often seen in China were the jack, the 
breadfruit, and the tamarind. 
In the mountain forests the Liquidambar fonnosana, 
of Hance, was the commonest tree, associated with noble 
fig-trees of great variety and beauty. Palms also were 
abundant; on the higher ground the cocoa-nut giving- 
place to fan-palms, caryota, phoenix, etc. The under¬ 
growth was traversed in all directions by rattans and 
other tangles innumerable, so as entirely to impede 
passage through. The finest woods for fragrance and 
lor sculpture are procured from the mountains of Hainan; 
and Du Halde, in his ‘ Histoire de la Chine,’ states that 
the Emperor Kcenlung had some carried to Pekin at im¬ 
mense cost to decorate a palace he was building for his 
sepulture. The most precious of these woods is the 
hwa-le , named by Europeans rose or violet-wood on ac¬ 
count of its odour, which the Chinese procure by barter 
with the hill tribes. Then there is the Icao-km , or eagle 
wood, a very hard timber, a specimen of which I pro¬ 
cured at Hoitow, and brought home for the Kew Museum. 
There is also a very fine and incorruptible yellow wood, 
columns of which, of a certain thickness, arc priceless, and 
said to be reserved, as is the hwa-le, for the service of the 
Emperor. This yellow wood is much used in the island 
for building purposes, but I noticed that its bright colour 
soon fades when exposed to the light. One tree exudes 
an abundance of a gummy matter, which is brought 
down in large lumps to the west coast, and thence ex¬ 
ported for sizing purposes. Another tree, probably the 
same as the Aloexylum Ayallochum (Lourciro) of Cochin 
China, yields the “ ching-heang,” or fragrant wood, so 
much sought after by the Chinese for incense and for 
carving into ornaments. This is proem-able in large 
quantities in Nychow city in the south end of the island, 
where the best kinds are sold for about Is. an ounce, and 
the coarser kinds, used for burning, for about Gd. a pound. 
The Chinese did not know the tree, and could give no 
account of it, but Lourciro says that it is only the de¬ 
cayed parts of the tree that are so highly scented, and he 
attributes it to a disease. In the south also they have 
the tree which yields the “dragon’s blood,” and others 
with sweet-scented sap used for incense. 
About the jungles of the south a species of Alpinia , 
with upright flower, lately described by Dr. Hance, her 
Majesty’s Vice-Consul at Whampoa, as A. officinarum , 
grows wild, and its roots yield to trade the valuable drug 
g-alangal. Its berries, which are also used as a drug by 
the Chinese, and were described and figured by Mr. 
Daniel Hanbury in 1855, are infused and taken by the 
aborigines as a substitute for tea. The tea-plant is cul¬ 
tivated in Hainan by the Chinese, and a very coarse 
kind of tea prepared from it; but whether it is indige¬ 
nous to the island or has been introduced, I was not able 
to ascertain. The fruits of the country are cocoa-nuts, 
areca or betel-nut, mangoes, indifferent oranges, limes, 
jackfruit, breadfruit, papaws, lichees, longans, jamboos, 
carambolas, bananas and tamarinds .—The Field. 
Supposed Suicide by Carbolic Acid. —An in¬ 
quest was held lately in Liverpool on the body of 
George Carey, a shipkeeper, who was found, apparently 
in a fit, in the cabin of a vessel in which he had been keep¬ 
ing watch. A bottle labelled “ Carbolic Acid ” was on the 
floor, with the cork drawn. He was taken to the 
Southern Hospital, where he died. His breath smelt 
strongly of carbolic acid, and it is supposed that he had 
taken a quantity of it from the bottle found on the cabin 
floor. No cause could be assigned for such an act, ex¬ 
cept that he had been fined in the morning for losing a 
tide watch. The jury returned an open verdict. 
Effect of Coffee upon Iodine. —Hutet mentions 
that one grain of iodine, added to a teaspoonful of strong 
infusion of coffee, has no longer any taste or smell, and 
does hot give the blue tinge to starch.— Lancet. 
