50 On the Native Oil of Laurel. 



the evidence of the Indians, upon which our knowledge of the 

 medicinal properties of the Native Oil almost entirely reposes, the 

 information derived from experience surely claims that attention, 

 and justly challenges that examination, which we should not hesi- 

 tate to bestow on the speculations of the mere theorist. Let 

 inquiries be instituted, and experiments be made by those who, by 

 situation and scientific attainments, are qualified for the task. By 

 these investigations, it may not only be ascertained what degree of 

 confidence ought to be reposed in the unqualified encomiums which 

 the Indians lavish upon this anomalous production, but properties 

 unknown to them may be discovered, and its history, which they 

 have been accused (perhaps unjustly) of involving in obscurity, be 

 satisfactorily elucidated. To the chemist and vegetable physiolo- 

 gist, in particular, the Native Oil of Laurel^ elaborated by the 

 unassisted hand of Nature, in a state of purity, which the operose 

 processes of art may equal, but cannot surpass, presents an inte- 

 resting subject of inquiry, and a wide field of speculation. 



Art. IV. On the Use of the Pocket Box-Sextant to 

 Travellers, &c. 



It has long been a matter of regret and astonishment to the 

 writer of the following pages, that in this age of travelling, when 

 the press teems with books of travels and voyages, there should be 

 so few persons who direct their attention to the following points, 

 viz., the latitude and longitude of remote places, the height of their 

 hills and mountains, and many other objects ; the knowledge of 

 which would be so useful in forming comparisons between the 

 climate, and numerous particulars relating to other countries with 

 our own. 



Conceiving that many travellers, and especially military men, 

 who frequently possess the proper instruments, are not aware of 

 their powers ; and, that the idea of their insufficiency alone 

 prevents them from applying these instruments in such determina- 

 tions ; many experiments have been made with a view to ascertain 



