NAT. ORDER. SCABRID^. 179 



places for the more lucrative purpose of supplying silk-wornis. 

 with its leaves upon which they feed. The Mon/s ruba a native 

 of our country, produces a fruit quite equal to that of the imported 

 species. The Morits alba, white mulberry, originally from China, 

 and now extensively cultivated as a source of food for the silk- 

 worm, bears a white fruit, which is sweeter and less grateful than 

 the others. Fustic, a yellow dye, is the wood of ]\[orus tincioria, 

 by some called the Osage apph; it bears a globular compound fruit 

 about the size of an orange; but is not eatable; the wood is much 

 esteemed by the Osage Indians for making their bows ; it dves a 

 beautiful yellow, and much resembles the Fustic of the West Indies. 

 The Moius maclura, is a native of Hindostan, the bark of which ia 

 a powerful tonic, and is administered by the Hindoos in diabetes. 

 The Aforus tartarica is said to be the most valuable iuv the culture 

 of silk; especially in China where the best silk is made. Forster 

 in a letter to Professor Murry, gives an account of another species 

 of Mulberry, the Morus pajjyrifera, from which the Japanese make 

 a very fine paper, and the inhabitants of some of the Islands of the 

 South Sea, make a kind of cloth. ;•>•> 



Medical Properties and Uses. The ripe fruit of this species 

 of mulben-y abounds with a deep violet-colored juice, which in its 

 general qualities agrees with that of the other Acido-dulces, allaying 

 thirst, partly by refrigerating, and partly by exciting an excretion 

 of mucus from the mouth and fauces; a similar effect is also pro- 

 duced in the stomach, where, by correcting putrescency, a power- 

 ful cause of thirst is removed. This is more generally the case 

 with all those fruits in which the acid prevails over the saccharine 

 part, as the currant which we have already noticed, and to which 

 the medicinal qualities of this fruit may be referred; but both of 

 these, and most of the other summer fruits, are to be considered 

 rather as articles of diet than of medicine. The bark of the root 

 is highly cathartic, the dose of which is half a drachm of the 

 powdered root. 



