This remarkable seed or nut is now well known in London, as a substance extensively carved into a variety of ornaments, and capable of receiving as high a polish as the finest ivory; which it also greatly resembles in colour. I lately obtained various specimens both of the nut in its natural state and of the fine turnings produced in the process of working it, being desirous of submitting them to a chemical examination.

The nuts in my possession vary in size from a pigeon's to a hen's egg, and have a somewhat angular shape. They are covered with a brown epidermis, and have an outer shell of an inch thick, and consisting of an outer white and an inner brown layer. The inner mass of the nut is remarkably close grained and homogeneous to the naked eye; and when cut and polished exactly resembles animal ivory. The hardness is considerable; the white mass yielding with some difficulty to a knife. Thin portions are translucent. The density of the white mass is 1.376, at 53° F.