210 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



India ; it is that mentioned by Pliny, but the second of his species, 

 which, according to this author, came by the Red Sea, and by 

 caravans to Alexandria. I think that the second of my species, 

 or the false, is that which MM. Ehrenberg and Hemprich dis- 

 covered in Nubia, and which they refer to the Balsamodendron 

 myrrha. 



By the following characters they may be distinguished from 

 each other. Equal parts of nitric acid will cause the developement 

 of a colour rose, red, of the lees of wine, or sometimes violet, 

 in the tincture of true myrrh ; and a light yellowish colour in the 

 new myrrh, which is the false myrrh. Of eighteen specimens 

 which were presented to me for real myrrh, sixteen only evolved a 

 red colour by nitric acid. The two others were not coloured ; one 

 belonged to bdellium, and the other was a sort of resin. 



19. On the different Genera and Species confounded with Cin- 

 chona. — M. De Candolle has published a short notice on the dif- 

 ferent genera and species of bark, which have been confounded 

 under the name of Cinchona ; the following are his conclusions :— 



i. It results from the enumeration made, that the 46 species of 

 trees or shrubs, until now more or less confounded in books, com- 

 pose eight distinct genera, namely, — Cinchona, Buena, Remigia, 

 Exostemma, Pinkneya, Hymenodyctron, Luculia, Danai's. 



ii. What is known of the bark of these eight groups appears to 

 indicate a decided connexion between the external forms and the 

 medical virtues, and in particular, that although all these barks 

 may be usefully administered in intermitting fevers as bitter or 

 astringent, it appears that the barks of Cinchona only contain 

 quinia, and that they probably are those which only are endowed 

 with anti-intermitting properties. 



iii. The yellow bark of medical men is produced from the Cin- 

 chona pubesce?is, and probably also in part from C. Purpurea and 

 C. Humboldtiana. The orange bark from the C. Lancifolia ; the 

 red bark from the C. Scrobiculata and the C. Magnifolia ; and the 

 pale bark of best quality from the C. Condaminia, whilst that of 

 inferior quality comes from a mixture of many species. 



iv. The eight genera obtained by the dismemberment of the old 

 genus Cinchona are sensibly in the relation of the geographical 

 distribution of these vegetables over the globe, Luculia and Hy- 

 menodyctron in the East Indies, Dana'is in the southern isles of 

 Africa (Bourbon and France), Pinkneya in Carolina and Georgia, 

 Remigia in Brazil, Buena and Cinchona in Peru and the Andes 

 of Bogota. The genus Exostemma is an exception to this regu- 

 larity ; but it may be observed that true Exostemma lives in the 

 Antilles, Pseudostemma in Brazil; and the Brachyanthes are 

 divided between America and the Philippine islands, with this cir- 

 cumstance, that the species of the Philippines form perhaps a dis- 

 tinct genus. — Bib. Univ. xli. 144. 



