PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. xi 
were aboriginal names for the common Irish-potatoe, (solanum tu- 
berosum.) The enquiries and investigations, however, of the late 
Professor Barton, in relation to this subject,* while they prove, beyond 
the possibility of doubt, that the Irish-potatoe, as it is generally now 
called, is not a native of any part of North-America, sufficiently sa- 
tisfy us, that neither of the vegetables under the above names, can 
be identical with that plant. 
The travels of Baron Humboldt, which have so much enriched 
our knowledge, by details of the practical and ceconomical uses of 
plants, acquaint us, that the inhabitants of Palma and Gomera make 
acomposition out of the root of Pteris aquilina and barley-meal, which 
serves them for food.t This fern is plentifully distributed along the 
moist edges of woods, fields and bogs, all over the United States. It 
grows near the falls of Schuylkill, and indeed all along its western 
shores, and in Jersey, near the Delaware river. The Lenni- 
Lenappes, we well know, used two important dietetic articles, the 
Mockshauw, and a subterranean aquatic tuber, which has by some 
been conjectured to be the Sagittaria sagittifolia.t This, however, 
* Tilloch’s Philosophical Magazine. 
+ They grind the roots to powder, then mix it with the meal, and boil it. When thus 
prepared, it is termed gofie. 
$ While I have mentioned this plant, I may not inappropriately state, that the root 
seems to have been successfully used as a poultice, in cases of sphacelating ulcers. 
