NOTICES OF BOOKS. , 219 
chief object now is to direct attention to the memoirs bearing on 
Botany :—such we trust will increase with the advance of the 
publication ;—and here we have, in the first number, a most im- 
portant paper * oz the Gutta Percha plant," which now excites so 
much interest in Europe. Itis written by Thomas Oxley, Esq., A.B., 
senior surgeon of the settlement of Prince of Wales Island, 
Singapore, and Malacca, and contains a full history of the plant, 
and of the properties of the gum. The botanical description is 
very faithful; but the author, without being able to consult books 
or any Herbarium, has not ventured to give a generic and specific 
name, which has been done in the fifth volume of our Journal, 
from specimens sent by Mr. Oxley himself. We shall make 
ample use of this paper in a further notice of the uses and pro- 
perties of the plant, which we are preparing. 
No. 2. contains “ Some contributions to the Natural History of 
the Raflesia Patma,” by M. Zollinger: a “ Note on Gutta 
Percha," by Dr. D' Almeida, who claims to be the first to make 
it known in Europe: “ 4 case of poisoning by Mushrooms,” ap- 
parently an Agaric, species unknown, but in common use in 
Singapore. We trust well-dried specimens will be sent to Europe 
for determination. 
In No. 4., under the article entitled ** Temmincks General Re- 
view of the Dutch Possessions in the Indian Archipelago,” are 
some valuable notices relating to Rice, Coffee, Sugar, Indigo, 
Cinnamon, Cochineal, Cloves, Pepper, Tobacco, Tea, Cotton, 
Forests, &c.; and lastly, in No. 5, under an account of “ The 
Orang Binua of Johore,” at the southern extremity of the Malay — 
peninsula, we have a good deal of curious information on the 
vegetable products, especially respecting the Durian groves and 
Durian feasts, and on the “ Taban (to which the name of Gutta 
Percha, a gum yielded by a different tree, is erroneously applied by - 
Europeans). "* We presume that the Gutta Percha of Singapore 
* Such are the words of the author of this paper, to whieh the editor adds in a note: 
“Tt is time that an endeavour should be made to avoid these mistakes, for we might, 
with as much truth and propriety, call an apple a pear.”—We only wish that travel- 
lers, who are able to detect these errors, would help us to correct them ; which they 
