384 Botanical Collections. 



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 sent to the subscribers. 



It is desirable that no share should be of less amount than ten guineas. 



Janipha Manihot. — Two kinds are especially cultivated in the colonies, 

 the Sweet Cassada of Brovme's Jamaica, (p. 350,) and Lunan's Hort. Jam. 

 (vol. i. p. 163,) Manihot Aipi, Pohl, whose root is of a white colour, and free 

 from deleterious qualities ; and the Bitter Cassada, or Manioc, whose root is 

 yellowish, and abounds in a poisonous juice. We shall confine our observa- 

 tions to the latter kind, which is the one here ( Hooker's Bot. Misc. ) figured and 

 described. They seem not to differ in botanical character. When it is 

 considered that the Manioc belongs to a tribe of plants, the Euphorbiaceae, 

 which is essentially distinguished by its acrid and poisonous qualities, and 

 that the root of the plant itself abounds in a juice of this peculiar character, 

 it cannot fail to excite astonishment in the minds of those who are not 

 already aware of the fact, that it nevertheless yields an abundant flour, 

 rendered innocent, indeed, by the art of man, and thus most extensively 

 employed in lieu of bread throughout a very large portion of South America ; 

 and that even to our country it is largely imported, and served up at table 

 under the name of Tapioca. Such is the poisonous nature of the expressed 

 juice of the Manioc, that it has been known to occasion death in a few 

 minutes. By means of it the Indians destroyed many of their Spanish 

 persecutors. M. Fernier, a physician at Surinam, administered a moderate 

 dose to dogs and cats, who died in a space of twenty-five minutes, passed in 

 great torments. Their stomachs, on being opened, exhibited no symptoms 

 of inflammation, nor affection of the viscera, nor was the blood coagulated, 

 whence it appeared, that the poison acted on the nervous system ; an idea 

 that was confirmed, by thirty-six drops being afterwards adn)inistered to a 

 criminal. These had scarcely reached the stomach, when the man writhed 

 and screamed with the agonies under which he suffered, and fell into con- 

 vulsions, in which he expired in six minutes. Three hours afterwards, the 

 body was opened, but no alteration was found, except that the stomach was 

 shrunk to less than half its natural size ; so that it would appear, that the 

 fatal principle resides in a volatile substance, which may be dissipated by 

 heat ; as, indeed, is satisfactorily proved, by the mode of preparing the root 

 for food. By various processes, by bruising between stones, by a coarse 

 rasp, or by a mill, the root of the Manioc is broken into small pieces, then 

 put into a sack, and subjected to a heavy pressure, by which all the juice is 

 expressed. What remains is Cassava, or Cassada, which, if properly dried, 

 is capable of being preserved for a great length of time. In French Guiana, 

 according to Aublet, cassava flour is made by toasting the grated root over 

 the fire, in which state, if kept from humidity, it will continue good for 

 twenty years. Cassava-cake, or cassava-root, is the meal, or the grated, 

 expressed, and dried root of the Manioc, pounded in a mortar, passed through 

 a coarse sieve, and baked on flat circular iron plates fixed in a stove. The 

 particles of meal are united by the heat ; and when thoroughly baked in this 

 manner, form cakes, which are sold at the markets, and universally esteemed 

 as a wholesome kind of bread. The Spaniards, when they first discovered 

 the West Indies, found this in general use among the native Indians, who 

 called it Cazabbi, and by whom it was preferred to every other kind of 

 bread, on account of its easy digestion, the facility with which it was culti- 

 vated, and its prodigious increase. Again, in Guiana, Cipipa is another 

 preparation from this plant, and is the name given to a very fine and white 

 fecula, which, according to Aublet, is derived from the expressed juice of 

 the roots, which is decanted off, and suffered to rest for some time, when it 

 deposits an amylaceous substance, which requires repeated washing. I 

 know not whether this is exactly analogous to our Tapioca. " The juice," 

 says Sloane, " evaporated over the fire, gives the Tipioca meal." But 



