274 OUtuary Notice of the late T. C. Archer. 



Mr Archer was elected a resident member of our Society 

 in 1861, and as President in 1862. In March 1863 Mr Archer 

 read before this Society an account of the economical uses of 

 the Carnauba palm [GoiJernicia ceriferd), which grows wild 

 in some of the provinces fringing the coast on the east side 

 of Brazil. As this communication was not printed, and 

 as perhaps nowhere else is there to be found a tree which 

 can be employed for so many useful purposes, it may be 

 of some interest to state briefly here what these are. Its 

 roots produce a medicine similar in its nature to sarsa- 

 parilla ; its stem affords strong and light fibres, and also 

 serves for joints, rafters, and fences • from the core a 

 substitute for cork is got, and the stem also yields a kinc| 

 of flour, as well as a white liquid similar to the milk of the 

 cocoa-nut ; in addition to these, musical instruments and 

 water pipes are made from the stem ; the young leaves 

 yield a nutritious vegetable, these also furnish a kind of 

 sago together with a saccharine substance, and from them 

 wine and vinegar are made ; the pulp of the fruit has an 

 agreeable taste, and the roasted nut is to some extent used 

 as coffee ; another use of the fruit is to feed cattle ; mats, 

 hats, baskets, and brooms are made of the straw, which 

 also yields common salt and alkali ; and finally, a wax, 

 extensively used in the northern provinces of Brazil for 

 the manufacture of candles, is got from the leaves. 



Mr Archer made a short communication to the Society 

 in April 1863, on Guarana, a hardened paste, prepared 

 from the seeds of the Paullinia sorhilis (Sapindacese), used 

 all over Brazil to make a refreshing beverage and as a 

 medicine for various diseases. This is one of the few 

 substances containing theine. 



At the meeting held on the 24th March 1864, he read a 

 few brief notices of some of the vegetable products shown 

 in the London International Exhibition of 1862. Among 

 other objects, he noticed a kind of gutta-percha from 

 Guiana, called " Balata," and obtained from Sapota 

 Mullieri ; also curious applications of willow wood from 

 Austria, in the shape of coats and other articles of clothing 

 made of plaited and dyed strips of the wood — the coats 

 being sold for a few shillings each. At the third subse- 

 quent meeting (June 1864) he gave some account of the 



