3S On tlie Tinctorial Properties of 



On my return to the Isle of France, I proposed to make 

 some experiments in regard to the utihty it might be in giv- 

 inii" an intense and fixed colour ; but having no apparatus, 

 and beina; unprovided with books which might point out 

 the process I oua;ht to follow, I could only make a few 

 trials, which convinced me of its utility, but they were not 

 sufficient to indicate the method of using it. They exhibited 

 one phsenomenon which was very remarkable ; it is not how- 

 ever peculiar to this plant, for it is found in another ve- 

 getable, but which has so little relation to the one in ques- 

 tion, and exhibits it in a part so different, that the confor- 

 miiV itself is still another singularity. But before I describe 

 it I must speak of the plant. 



It has been described by Commerson, and is found in 

 liis herbals. This naturalist, whose premature death was 

 sensibly felt by all those who cultivate the sciences, besides 

 his knowledge, had a particular instinct in the application of 

 names. Observing that this plant was dicecous by abor- 

 tion, so that the stamina seemed to be choked by the 

 pistil, he compared it to the Danaides, which put to death 

 their husbands, and thence gave it the name of Danais ; 

 he v.as not able to procure any of its fruit. The fruit being 

 the important character of this family, it was impossible 

 for him to determine its place with precision, and Jussieu 

 and Lamarck united it to the pcederia. The latter, in his 

 Dictionary, calls it the odoriferous c?a/?ff/,?, because its flowers, 

 according to the remark of de Court, are exceedinglv odori- 

 ferous, and of a beautiful orange colour. These two na- 

 turalists having afterwards procured some of its fruit, found 

 that they had two cells, each containing several seed?, and 

 consccjuently that it ditfered from the pcederin, which had 

 only two. Having an opportunity of seeing them in all 

 their states, I observed the same thing ; and finding also 

 that the seeds were bordered by a membranous circle, I con- 

 sidered it r.s a species of cinchona : but it appears that there 

 are several peculiar characters in the internal construction of 

 the capsule, and its manner of opening, which renders it 

 necessary to restore the genus of Commerson, and this is 

 confirmed by the difference of appearance ; but it ought to 

 be placed between the mussenda and the cinchona, and 

 very near to the latter. I discovered four species which be- 

 long to this genus : the present is the only one which I 

 found to possess the tinctorial quality : a description of 

 them here would be misplaced, they will form part of mv 

 I'lora. I shall at present confine mvself to an account of 



the 



