jdccoutit of the Perjian Cotton-Tree. 4.57) 



The colour of the contents of the phials C and D was changed nearly in the fame man- 

 ner ; and having been fuffered to {land quiet two or three days to fettle, the folution was- 

 found to be quite colourlefs, and the fediment to be deeply coloured. There was, how« 

 ever, a very remarkable difference in the hues of the two phials ; that of the phial C being: 

 of a light greenifli-blue ; while that in the phial D was indigo, and of fo deep a tint that 

 It might eafily have been taken for black. 



Thefe appearances were certainly very ftriking, and well calculated to excite my cu- 

 r'lofity ; but I arn fo much engaged in public bufinefs that it is not at prefent in my 

 power to purfue thefe inquiries farther. I wifli that what I have done may induce others, 

 who have more time to fpare, to devote fonie portion of their leifure to thefe interefting 

 invelligations. 



VJI. 



Some Jccount of the Perfiaii Cotton-Tree. By MaTTHEIV Guthrie, M.D. F.R.S. ^c. bfc* 



V-<'OTTON is a plant of both the old and the new world ; at leafl: it is found wild in 

 both : but I have my doubts whether it was a native of America before the Europeans car- 

 ried it over, and fliall affign reafons for my -incredulity when 1 come to treat of the Perftait 

 niton, which is the very fpecies that is faid to be American. 



Five fpecies of the cotton-tree are enumerated by Linnxus ; and there is reafon to fuf- 

 pe£l: the exiftence of a fixth, if what we are told of the extreme finenefs and filky nature- 

 of a particular kind reared in fome of the Antilles be literally true. This curious variety is 

 Called Siam cotton, becaufe the reed was originally obtained from Siam. 



The firft fpecies of cotton is the gojfypium arloreum, or Indian cotton-tree, which has been 

 cultivated and manufaftured in the Eafl Indies from the rcmoteR period of the authentic 

 hiftory of that country, or between three and four thoufand years. It delights in a fandy 

 foil. 



The fecond fpecies is the gojfypuim religtofum, which is likewife a native of India, and a 

 tree, or at leaft a high (hrub ; l>ut why Linnjeus dignified it with fo fingular a fpecific 

 name 1 fliall leave the learned Afiatic Society in Bengal to determine, as they muft know 

 if it be ufed for any religious purpofes by the.Bramins. This fpecies of cotton is faid to- 

 be that which is cultivated by the French in Martinico. 



The third is the G. harbndetife, a fpecies of biennial cotton flirub cultivated in our Bri- 

 tifli ifland of Barbadoe6, from which it obtains its fpecific name. I believe it is likewife 

 the fame fpecies which is cultivated in Jamaica. 



The fourth is the G. hirfuttim, an A merican./i^r^;7«;W cotton fhrub in the warmer pro- 

 vinces, h\it annual \n the colder, as is fometinies the cafe with plants in climates where 

 their roots lofe their vegetating power by winter froft. 



The fifth and laft fpecies is the G. herbaceum, or G. annuutn, an annual cotton plant, 

 vljich rifes to th? height of three or four feet, and is fown and reaped, like corn, twice a. 



f Manchefter Memoirs, Vol. V. Part I. 



5. y«aEr 



