(it^:OE% r-rORTUS JAMAICENSIS. 5l.'5- 



ro'.vd'.'rinj,' the drifu root rough in a ni/^rtar. BeL^in witlia heaped ten-spoonful, talcfu 

 in boiled niillc, eitlier fof supjier or breakfast. Tiie quantity may he increase:! to two 

 or even tUree drachms.. Tnt.se directions \vt;reals(> given by Dr. Wrig-ht; to wliom Sir 

 Joseph Banks gave the following account ot'its effects upon hiiHself, in 1781 : " I have 

 taken two tea-spoo.ifuls heaped up, of ginger powder^ in a pint of milk, boiled with 

 bre-; 1, and s\ve:;tened vvitii sugar, for brealifastj Hir liiore than a year past. The weight 

 '.>f the gini^er is between t.va and thc-ee drachms. At; first, this quantity was difficult to 

 swallow, if the ginger was good. I was guided in the qnaatitv by the effect it liad ou 

 ruy stomach ; if it made me hiccough tlje dose was too large. I found occasionally tiiar 

 it produced (;ri/cr i4)7';;.-f; but this went off without-any ill consequences whatever. I 

 iiave not j-et found it necessary to increase the dose; but I use rather a coarser pov%'der 

 than I did at first, which mixes more easily with the milk, and probably produces rather' 

 inoreeffect than the fine. 



" The late Lord Rivers took ginger in large dosss for more than thirty years ; and 

 at eighty was an upright and healthy old man. 



" I have, since I used the ginger, had one fit of the gout ; but it was confined en- 

 tirely to my e.xtremities, and never assailed eitfier my head, my loins, or mv stomach, 

 and lasted only seventeen or eighteen days ; hut the last fit I had, before I took thai 

 ginger, affected my head, my stomach, and my loins, and lasted, with intervals, from 

 the end of October to January." Sinciair^s Code of HiSilth, v. 1, p. 233. 



The root, preserved or candied, is an excellent stomachic, warming and comforting ; 

 boiled in wine, with a little cummin seed, it eases the pain of the stoinach, and causes 

 sweat; outwardly applied, mixed with cocoa-nut oil, draws out poisons in wounds ; 

 and rubbed upon the stomach, comtorts it, aad eases paius from a cold cause. ai'- 

 ham, p. 63, 



2. SYLVESTRE. WOODy. 



Zinziber sylwstrc majus, fructu in pediculo singulari. Sloane, v. I, 

 p. 166, t. 105, f. 2. Scapojiorifero partiali aphyllo, spica longiori, 

 Browne, p. 113. 

 Scape naked ; spike elongate, %yith oblong ventricose bractes ; leaves broad- 

 lanceolate. 

 This is called great wild ginger, and is freonent in the v/oods of .lamaica. The root 

 is larger than that of the common einsrer. The stalk cjrows from four to eight feet high, 

 quite simple, and round, furnished with oblong leaves that decrease towards the top. 

 The flowers grow on particular stalks, about twa or three feet high, immediately 

 springing from the root, jointed, and having each internode covered with a dry pur- 

 plish membrane, coming from the under joint, and on its top a spike of flowers, four 

 inches long, of a pal^ purple colour. Sloane says the juicy skin stains a brown colour, 

 and has been used for ink. The leaves, stalk, and unripe fruit, smell pleasantly, when 

 Tubbed. The root is warm, and stimulates very gently ; it is not much nsed, but may 

 be-very properly administered as a stomachic and alexipliarmic, in case of need. 



See Wild Ginger. 



Glass-Wort A^fe Salt- Wort, 



GGAT" 



