cnS. on the different Kinds. of Bennn. ft^ 



trguel, and the fale is 1400 or 1500 quintals.. Araong that 

 received by our merchants are leaves of the cohitea and box. 



Uiifortuaalely i'uch inftanccs ot fraud, which are too com - 

 moo in commerce, are attended with more ferious coule- 

 quences than that prai'tifed in regard to vanon? kinds of 

 drugs. They occufion much trouble to our druggitis, who 

 are obliged to pick the feima with the utmoft care. 



The antient botauiits diilinguilhed thele two kinds of len« 

 na, and tlie terms they employed for that purpofc,/c-/i/i-^c«- 

 tis &nAfoli:s ohlujis, exprelVed with fufficitnt clearnefs and 

 precifion the dilVerences they exhibit. Linnams, however, 

 thought it necelfary to unite them, and to con.fider them as 

 varieties. C. Lamarck notices in his dictionary, under the 

 head cajjui, the error into which this celebrated botanift has 

 fallen. He diftinguiflies two kinds of ienna which grow in 

 Egypt. One, the leaves of which are acute, is announced 

 imder the name given to it by Forfkal, cnjjia lanceolata; and 

 the other, the leaves of which arc obtufe, under thatof cv///ia 

 Jeima. Tlie oblervalions prefented to the clafs on thele tw^o 

 plants by C. Delifle, and afterwards by C. Netloux, efta- 

 blifli alfo feveral other diflerences. The cnffiafenna is diftin- 

 gulihed from the caffia Janccolata, not only by the obtufe 

 leaves, but alfo by the itipultc, which are longer and fliaped 

 like a lance, and by its bent pod liaving on the middle of 

 each face projed.ing ridges. 



The defcriplion given by C. NeAoux, when compared v/ith 

 that of C. Delide, gives a refemblance of charaders, which 

 facilitates a diilintt knowledge of the claliifieation of thefe 

 plants, which have been long valued on account of their me- 

 dical qualities. It is under this point of view we Ikall con- 

 fider them. 



In the year 6, C. Bouillon-Lagrange publldied a che- 

 mical analyfis of the fenna of the pakhe of Alexandria, which 

 isufed in commerce. We conceived that, by delivering to 

 him the three kinds of plants, an ample provifuni of wliich had 

 been entrulied to us by C. NciTioux, we IhouUt be able to 

 prefent to the clafs at the fame time a knowledge of the 

 principles contained in the fenna and arguel, conii)ared with 

 tiiat already obtained in regard to the fenna of commerce. 

 Our wiCh has been fully gratified by the zeal and ability of 

 C. Lagrange. Jt will not ajiijcar alloniihing to you, that 

 the twoanalyfes of the years 6 and 10 prefent the fame re- 

 falts, with the exception of fuch imall ditferences that they 

 can have wo influence on the opinion which phylicians ought 

 to fvirm of the aiLtkua of the two kinds of fenna, lince the fenna 



