ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



1019 



Bezarcs discovered that ^?hich has 

 been so forcibly pointed out by the 

 cabinet of Madrid^ namely, the 

 yellow bark, there named calisaija, 

 which wastlioiight to be peculiar to 

 the province of la Paz, and which, 

 having been alrsady brought to 

 Lima by Bezarcs, has been found io 

 be of the same species, and to possess 

 the same active qualities. Who 

 could haveimagined that the cinchona 

 grew in Guamaiics, and of the two 

 most esteemed kinds, the dusky red 

 and the yellow, before the adven- 

 turous spirit of Bezares led him to 

 penetrate its intricate forests ?" 



The eighth and last part of the 

 work comprehends, under the gene- 

 ral head of miscellaneous subjects of 

 literature and philosophy, an ac- 

 count of the periodical works set on 

 foot in the capital, and other large 

 towns of Peru : — Political economy, 

 biograghy, and meteorology ; in 

 all of which may be found subjects 

 of general and particular interest. 

 As articles of mere amusement, the 

 following extracts may gratify our 

 readers. 



" Friar Francisco del Castillo, a 

 lay brother of the order of Mercy, 

 was born in Lima, where he was cut 

 off a few years ago, in {\\c meridian 

 of his life. It is not certain whether 

 he came into the world with an irre- 



parable obstacle in the organs of 

 vision, or was d«prived of his sight 

 in his infancy, so as to have beea 

 prevented from receiving the instruc- 

 tions which are bestowed on chil- 

 dren from the earliest dawn of rea- 

 son, and are continued, with a con- 

 stant application, during their lite- 

 rary progress, at a time when the 

 external means of collecting infor- 

 mation preserve all their vigour. 

 In despight of these invincible im- 

 pediments, by which the channels of 

 wisdom were choked, he was a prQ? 

 digy of intelligence and comprehen- 

 sion. It was surticient for him to 

 hear a theme, however lofty, to be 

 enabled to descant on it, and to 

 bestow on it every illustration of 

 which it was susceptible. He was 

 delighted when the theologians ex- 

 pounded io him the most abstruse 

 points of their profession ; and re- 

 peated, without study or hesitation^ 

 what he had acquired without dif- 

 ficulty. When, at his request, the 

 students conferred together on the 

 subjects of their tasks, he instantly 

 became more effectually master of 

 them than were those by whom thej 

 had been connnunicafed. 



But what rendered his talent most 

 conspicuous was versification. With- 

 out any other knowledge of the 

 poetic art than that which he de- 



This envelope, on which they bestow such a texture, consistency, and lustre, that 

 it cannot be decotnpo<sed by any practicable expedient, having been finished, they 

 all of them unite, :ind ranging themselves in vertical and even tiles, form in the 

 centre a perfect square. Belii^ thus disposed, each of tlitsn makes its cocoon, 

 or pod, of a coarse and slioit silk, in which it is transformed, from the trrub 

 into the chrysalis, and from the chrysalis into the papilio, or moib. In proportion 

 as they afterward quit their coutinement, to take wing, tliey detach, wherever it is 

 most convenient to them, their envelope, or weh, a portion of which remains sus- 

 pended to the trunk of the tree, wiiereit waves to tmd fro like a streamer, and which 

 becomes more or less vvhite, according to the siir and humidity tlie season and 

 situation admit. A complete nest lias already been transniittcd to his catholic 

 majesty; and, b\ the hands of liis natiirilist, Don Atitonio Pineda, a piece of this 

 natural s^ilk paper, mcasurii^g a yard luid a half, of im elliptical sha])e, which is pecu- 

 itiw to all of them, 



rived 



