AT2 HORTUS J AM AI C ENS IS. .maidb 



/ 



I'lic fn'st nse to which mahogany was applied iu Englanil, was to malce a hox lor 

 hji.liiig laiuUes. Dr. Gibbons, an erninent physifiar. in the latter cud of the seven- 

 t;'oiitli and beginning ottiie eighteenth century, iiad a broiher, a West India Captain, 

 \vho brought over some planks of'tiiis wood as ballast. As the doctor was tlicn buiidit^g 

 iiim a house in King-street, Covcr.t-Garden, his brother tliought they might be of ser- 

 vice to him. But the carpenters, finding the wood tocj hard for their uuAs, they were 

 laid asitle for a time, as useless. Soon after, Mrs. ^Gibbons wanting a candle-box, the 

 doctor called on his cabinet-maker (^Vollaston, in Long-Acre) to make him one of 

 some wool! that lay in his garden. WoUaston also complained that it was too hard. 

 The doctor said he must get stronger tools. The candle-box wa^- made and approved ; 

 iasomuch, that the doctor then insisted on having a bureau made of the same wood, 

 which was accordingly done ; and the fine colour, polish, &c. were so pleasing, that 

 he invited all his friends to come and seeit. Among them was the Duchess of Buck- 

 ingham. Her Grace begged some of the same wood of Dr. Gibbons, and employed 

 Wollaston to make her a bureau also ; on whicii the fame of mahogiinv and Mr. Wol- 

 laston was much raised, and things of this sort became general. This account was 

 given by Henry Mill, Esq. a gentleman of undoubted veracity. 



The following preparation is quoted in Dancer's Medici I Assistant, as binding or 

 astringent: 



Boil an ounce of the shavings of mahogany in two pints of water, till one half is 

 wasted. Dose from two to four table-spoonfuls frequently, in diarrh;a or looseness, 

 Hughes's Medical Facts and Observations, vol. 6. 



Dr. Wright observes, that tlie bark of the boughs of mahogany is very like the Peru- 

 vian bark in colour as well as in taste, but has more bitterness. Mahogany bark, in- 

 fused in wine or spirits, makes an elegant tincture, which resembles the tincture of the 

 'best Jesuits bark, for which it is often substituted ; and he saw the powder admi- 

 nistered in inteimittents with succiess, when the Peruvian bark could not be had- 



Dr. Roxburgh, of Madras, has discovered a new species of mahogany, and has sent 

 home a good deal of the bark : he assures us it is superior in virtue to the Peruvian. 

 Jts sensible qualities are exactly the same as the bark gf ; the mahogany tree of Jamaica^ 

 '^Wright. 



MAIDEN HAIR. ADIANTIJM. 



Cl. 24, OR. 1. Cryptogamia filices. Nat. or. Filices. 

 CeN. char. Fructifications assembled in oval spots, at the end of the fronds, which 

 are turned back ; or at the reflex tip of the frond underneath. Of this fourteea 

 species have been discovered in Jamaica. 



The following have compoimd fronds : 



\. RADIATUM. RAYED. 



liamosum, ramis simpUcibus, summo cattle radiatis, Btowtie, p." 

 88. Ad. 6. 



frond cUgitate ; leaflets pinnate ; pinnas onefl(?wered. 



Srewae 



