o 



/ 



191 



J 



iksLud in pairs at the articulations of the ilalk, and upon tfi 



fiibdivifions produce fmall terminal fiowers of a ye 



calyx is divided at' the mouth into four teeth : the corolla is fm 



iliaped, and cut at the extremity into four oval fep-men 



filaments are four, ftioit, and fupport fimple erect anthers : the rer 



double, and placed below the corolia': the ftyle is flender, an 



the top divides into two globular itigmata : the fruit conlifts of 

 d berries, each containing an oval feed, with a cavity at its fm 



extremity. It is a native of the South of Eurone, and flowers in Tune. 



3 J 



Madder is frequently mentioned by the Greek v/riters, who em- 

 ployed its roots with the fam^e medicinal intentions for which they 

 now are recommended by moft of the modern writers on the Materia 

 Medica. Our knov/ledo;e of the firft cultivation of thi 



s Plant in 



England is from Gerard;' and though an extenfive cultivation of 



Madder in Britain feems to promife conficjerable advantage both 

 to the planter and to the nation, yet we find that the great quantity 

 of Madder roots ufed here \yj the Diers and Callico-printers, has 

 ' een for many years almofS: vv^holly the growth and export of Holland.'* 

 Madder appears to diiTer from other fubftances ufed for the purpofe of 

 dying, in having the peculiar property* of tinging with a florid red 



X 



only the milk, urine, &c." but even the bones of thofe 

 animals which have fed upon it; a circumftance which was firft 

 noticed by Antonius Mizaldus,' but not known in England till Mr. 

 Belchler publifhed an account of a pig and a cock, wdiofe bones 

 became red by eating Madder mixed with their food ;' fmce that time 



» Vide Hon. Kew, »» AMer DiSf. m which is alfo given a full account of the culti- 

 vation of this plant. But we are happy to obferve, that by the laudable endeavours of 

 the Society for the Encouragement of Jrts, kc. confiderable quantities of Englifli 



Madder have been produced, and found as good at leaft, if not better than Iny imported. 



Iranfa^iions^ p. 10. vol. i. ■ r 



* Some other plants of the fame natural ov<leT (Stellata) have alfo the elFea of tinging 

 the bones, as the Galium Mollugo and Jbari7ie. Vide Guettard A4em. de VA^. de Sc. a, 

 1740 ^ 1747. - And the Valantia crucwta. Bohmer DiJ. de rad. rub. tlna. p. Ji^i. ^ 



_ «= Bohmer alfo found the ferum of the blood reddened by the Madder. Dlf. rad. ruh, 

 ttnfi. ^c. p 13. And Levrct obferves, that it fometimes tinged the excretion by the 

 iKin, , iiur les Jccouchemens^ p. 278. 



^ Memorah. ut. ac jucuncla Cent. 7. Aph. 91. Lutet. 1566. 



• Phil. Tranf. vol. j^^. p. 287. & p. 299. See alfo vol. 41. Afterwards experiments 

 were profecuted hjBa^mus^ Geoffroy, Du Hamel FougerQm^ B^rgm, and others. 



No. 14 



3 



various 



