PREFACE. 
THE great additions made to the genus Cinchona since the 
publication: of the author’s former account,* by the celebrated 
authors of © the Flora Peruviana,’ Don Hippolito Ruiz and 
Den Jose Pavon, and by the illustrious travellers Humboldt 
and Bonpland, have induced him to give the following Tilustra~ 
tion, which may be either considered as supplementary or as 
forming a distinct work. He has entirely confined himself to the 
botanical definitions of the species, and “hopes he has been suc- 
cessful, in many instances, in giving more correct diagnoses of the 
-species than has hitherto been done. The very valuable memoirs 
of Humboldt and Laubert (of which he has for the first 
‘ “every other information re- 
time given translation wi 
lating to their history, and the various qualities of their barks. 
The Dissertations of Don Hippolito Ruiz on various plants of 
South America, esteemed for their medicinal virtues, are almost 
_wholly unknown in this country. They are highly deserving at- 
tention, as they contain much valuable and instructive informa- 
tion, not only to medical men but to the general reader. ~ Many 
orthographical errors have, he fears, unavoidably crept inte the 
> 
* Description of the genus Cinchona, London, 1797. 
b 
