Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1874 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IV. RED WOODS. A. Open or Soluble Class. SEVERAL woods are known, all characterised by the feature that they impart to tissues mordanted with alumina or tin a fugitive red colour. The trees from which they are obtained belong to the natural order of Ltgummosa, and are natives of warm climates, especially Central and South America, the Antilles, and India. These woods are met with in commerce in the shape of fagots, of irregular blocks, and billets. In physical structure these woods are hard and compact; the colour is internally bright yellow, but the portions exposed to air are brown. They are devoid of smell; their taste is sweetish bitter or astringent, and they tinge the saliva red. In India some of these woods were employed for dyeing purposes long before the discovery of America (1492), and some of them even appear to have been known and used in Europe before that epoch. The following varieties of "open" red woods are used to a greater or less extent: --1. Fernambuco wood, the best variety and the richest in tinctorial matter, is imported from Paratba. It is the product of the Casalpinia crista, a tree abundantly found in Jamaica as well as in Brazil. It is imported in billets, varying in weight from 4 to 120 lbs. The wood is hard, heavy (the sp. gr. of these woods being generally above that of water, and averaging 1-014), compact; externally red; internally pale yellowish red when freshly cut, but on exposure to air it becomes a deep brown-red. Its taste is sweetish, and its odour faintly aromatic. It tinges water beautifully red. 2. Brazil wood, properly so-called, the product of the Casalpinia brasiliensis, from the immense forests of that large country, is met with in trade in the shape of large irregularly hewn blocks;...
