Medico-Botanical Society. 227 



On the other hand the marine formations are destitute of the cha- 

 racteristic fossils of the fresh-water formations, viz. birds, terrestrial 

 and fresh-water reptiles, shells and vegetables. The author, in short, 

 concludes that a comparison of the living inhabitants of our lakes and 

 rivers, with those of the ocean, would not offer more striking discre- 

 pancies. 



MEDICO-BOTANICAL SOCIETY. 



The last general meeting of the eighth session of this Society was 

 holden on Friday, the 11th of Jul v, at its Apartments, 32 Sackville- 

 street, Piccadilly; Sir James M'Gngor, M.D. F.R.S. K.C.T.S. Pre- 

 sident, in the chair. 



The following gentlemen were elected to be Professors during 

 the ensuingsession : Professor of Botany, John Frost, Esq., F.R.S. E. ; 

 Professor of Toxicology, George Gabriel Sigmond, M.D .F.S.A. 

 F.L.S. ; Professor of Materia Medica, John Whiting, M.D. 



A paper entitled " Remarks on the doubtful identity of Bonplan~ 

 dia trifoliata, of Willdenow, and Humboldt and Bonpland, and the 

 Angostura, or Carony bark tree," in a letter addressed by Dr. John 

 Hancock to the President and Fellows of the Society, — was read. 



Dr. Hancock, who, during the year 1816, resided for several 

 months in the districts in which grows the plant yielding the bark 

 known in pharmaceutic language by the name of Cortex Angostura 

 vel Cusparia?, on directing his attention to this subject, discovered 

 several material discrepancies between the tree he observed, and the 

 description of a tree said to produce the drug, and of which Baron 

 Alexander Humboldt, in other respects such an accurate observer, 

 sent specimens obtained from Carony to Professor Willdenow, of 

 Berlin ; who, though there already existed a genus of that name, 

 called it Bonplandia, in honour of Baron Humboldt's companion. 

 This name was subsequently adopted by Humboldt and Bonpland 

 in their splendid work on ^Equinoctial plants, though the former 

 had previously given it the appellation of Cuspariajebrifuga. The 

 opinion formed by Dr. Hancock was confirmed, on being informed 

 by a gentleman of the name of Don Jose Tereas, with whom the 

 travellers above-mentioned lodged, that they did not visit the mis- 

 sions of Carony, but sent down an Indian, who returned with a sam- 

 ple of the leaves of the tree in question, but, much to their disap- 

 pointment, without flowers. The generic character having also 

 become very doubtful to Dr. Hancock, he carefully examined its 

 congeners, and found it agree in so many points with the genus 

 Galipea of Aublet, that he considered it to be a species thereof, and 

 in this opinion he has lately been confirmed by the arrangement of 

 Professor DeCandolle, who has classed the Cusparia Jebrifuga, 

 which, no doubt, is nearly allied to Dr. Hancock's plant, under the 

 head Galipea. The paper then gave a detailed description of its 

 botanical characters; which, with a figure of the plant, and a notice 

 of its great efficacy in several diseases, especially in the malignant 

 fevers, dysenteries, and dropsies prevalent in Angostura, in 1816 

 and 1817, will be published in the next Number of the Society \ 



2 G 2 Transactions ; 



