AQUILARIA AGALLOCHA.—沉香 (Ch‘en-hsiang). This is the substance which is variously called agallochum, agila wood, eagle wood, calambac, garoo wood, aloes wood, lign-aloes, and is supposed to be the “aloes” of the Bible. The tree belongs to the natural order of Aquilaraceæ.
After the tree has been felled for some months or years, a dark, resinous, aromatic juice is met with in the wood, mainly deposited in certain portions of the vascular tissue, more especially of the heart of the tree. This valuable heavy wood is called agur, a name also applied to the drug in Bengali. The trees are sometimes buried in order to increase, or to facilitate the removal of the prized oleoresin. The coarse, reddish-brown wood, sold under the name of 沉香木 (Ch‘en-hsiang-mu), and used in the making of incense, has an odor similar to that of sandal-wood, and a faintly bitter taste. It is very hard, and being capable of a very high polish, is carved into ornamental articles, as well as being burned in the form of incense sticks. Paper is said to have been formerly made of the bark of this tree. The drug is placed by Dr. Williams among Chinese imports, but it is not noted in the Customs lists. Much interesting information in regard to this substance can readily be found in Hanbury’s “Notes” and Royle’s Illustrations. Tonic, stimulant, carminative, aphrodisiac, and diuretic properties are ascribed to the drug, besides which it is supposed to possess certain occult virtues, making it useful in getting rid of evil spirits.
The middle of the paragraph (the tree's range, its Persian and Sanskrit names, and the Chinese names of its grades, which print Chinese characters) is not transcribed.