BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 195 
** J flatter myself that the Crato collection will give you, 
and my other subscribers, every satisfaction, it being well 
preserved and the species quite different from what I have 
hitherto sent. I have since made another small collection 
of 120 species, which also contains some very good things, 
partly gathered here, and partly at a place called Barra do 
Jardin, about fourteen leagues farther south; and these I have 
forwarded by the same route as the former. A box contain- 
_ ing living plants and a parcel of seeds for Mr Murray, and 
another box of my own, filled with fossil fish from the Barra 
do Jardin, are also sent; on the top of the latter are three 
large birds and two small bats, which I would thank you to 
take out and present to Dr W. D. H. Among the dried 
specimens is a quantity of the root of a small arborescent 
Bignonia, said to bear purple flowers, (but I have not seen 
them). I should wish that this root were sent to Dr Chris- 
tison, who obligingly offered to analyze and make experi- 
ments as to the medicinal properties of any thing of the kind 
which I might forward to him. The tree itself is called 
Toca-je, and the root, rasped down and infused in cold water 
till the water becomes perceptibly tinged, is used here as a 
specific for all kinds of internal hemorrhages, and especially 
for those from the uterus. As a self-taught medical practi- 
tioner of this place assures me that he has; employed this 
remedy again and again in such cases with perfect success, 1t 
would be well to try its properties. r 
“In my last letter I told you that it was my intention to 
forward it and my other despatches to Pernambuco by a 
Portador, which I did. On his return about a fortnight ago, 
after an absence of forty-four. days, he brought me a large 
Packet of letters, among them yours of the 24th August, 
Which I need not say proved most welcome and interesting, 
as were the six numbers of the Annals of Natural History. 
This is a most useful and excellent publication, and I have 
already carefully perused all the articles it contains, only | 
regretting that so long a time must elapse before I can see - 
e 
