Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
January,  1914.  J 
Oil  of  Sandalwood. 
3i 
OIL  OF  SANDALWOOD.1 
By  E.  M.  Holmes. 
The  gradual,  but  steady,  increase  in  the  price  of  sandalwood 
oil  during  the  last  few  years  has  naturally  given  rise  to  enquiries 
concerning  its  cause.  Neither  the  growing  use  of  the  oil  for 
medicinal  purposes,  nor  the  large  demand  for  the  wood  in  India 
and  China,  can  sufficiently  account  for  it.  There  is,  however, 
a  possible  cause  that  has  apparently  not  received  the  attention  it 
deserves  from  merchants  in  this  country.  During  the  last  30  years 
or  more,  Lantana  and  Casuarina  plants  have  been  introduced  into 
sandalwood  plantations  with  the  idea  of  their  shade  helping  the 
growth  of  the  young  sandal  plants,  and  it  appears  that  concurrently 
with  a  diseased  state  of  the  Lantana,  the  sandal  plants  have  become 
affected  with  what  is  known  as  the  spike  disease. 
A  most  interesting  account  of  this  disease  is  given  by  Mr.  F.  S. 
Mason  in  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal  in  1903  (May  30th,  p.  756), 
which  gives  an  excellent  idea  of  the  character  of  the  disease,  and 
of  the  extent  to  which  the  plantations  are  affected.  One  remark 
in  this  paper  is  well  worthy  of  notice,  viz.,  that  "  within  five  years 
it  has  swept  whole  tracts  of  country,  and  unless  some  means  can  be 
devised  to  check  its  ravages,  it  is  only  a  question  of  time  for  the 
plant  to  become  very  rare,  if  not  extinct."  So  convinced  was  the 
Mysore  Government  of  the  importance  of  rinding  a  means  to  check 
the  disease,  that  in  1907  the  Maharajah  of  Mysore  offered  a  prize 
of  10,000  rupees  to  anyone  who  could  discover  the  cause  of  the 
disease,  and  devise  a  curative  treatment  for  it.  But  although  the 
offer  remained  open  until  19 10  no  one  succeeded  in  winning  the 
prize. 
The  cause  of  the  disease  was  investigated  on  behalf  of  the 
Indian  Government  by  Mr.  Barber  and  Dr.  Butler,  and  they  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  not  due  to  any  animal  or  vegetable 
parasite,  but  was  connected  with  the  disc-like  suckers  at  the  ex- 
tremities of  the  roots  of  the  sandalwood  tree,  by  which  it  attaches 
itself  to  the  roots  of  other  plants  and  obtains  nourishment  from 
them  (Indian  Forester,  xxxiii,  1907,  p.  199).  That  no  curative 
means  of  arresting  the  disease  has  yet  been  devised  is  evident  from 
^he  Perfumery  and  Essential  Oil  Record,  June,  1913,  161. 
