742 



I G N 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



I LE 



arch of the well ; and if there be a second arch turned over 

 from this well, it will add to the goodness of the house ; but 

 if not, then the plate into which the roof is to be framed 

 must be laid on this outer wall, which should be carried 

 high enough above the inner arch to admit of a door-way in, 

 to get out the ice. If the building is to be covered with 

 slates or tiles, there should be a thickness of reeds laid under, 

 to keep out the sun and external air: if these reeds be laid 

 two feet thick, and plastered over with lime and hair, there 

 will be no danger of the heat getting through it. The 

 external wall need not be circular ; it may be either square, 

 hexangular, or octangular, and, where it stands much in 

 sight, may be contrived so as to form a good object. The 

 aperture at the mouth of the well need not be above two feet 

 and a half in diameter, and there should be a stone fitted to 

 stop it, and the aperture must be closed up as secure us 

 possible after the ice is put in, and all the vacant space 

 above and between this and the outer door must be filled 

 close with barley straw, to exclude the air. The building 

 being finished, should have time to dry before the ice is put 

 into it, for the damp of green walls frequently melts the ice. 

 Upon the wooden grate, at the bottom of the well, some 

 small faggots should be laid, and if a layer of reeds be 

 smoothly placed upon these, it will be better for the ice to 

 lie upon than the straw, which is commonly used. In choos- 

 ing ice, observe, the thinner it is, the better it may be broken 

 to powder, and the more easily it will unite when put into 

 the well. Care must be taken to ram it close, and, by laying 

 straw all round the wall, to allow a vacancy of about two 

 inches to drain off' the moisture that may be occasioned by 

 the melting of the ice on the top, which, if not drawn off, 

 will melt the ice downwards. A little saltpetre mixed with 

 the ice, at every ten inches or a foot thickness, when it is 

 put into the well, will cause it to unite more closely into a 

 solid mass : and there must be a crow, or other iron instru- 

 ment, always in readiness to break it up, taking out no more 

 at each time than is immediately wanted. 



Ice Plant. See Mesembryanthemwn. 



Jerusalem Artichoke. See Helianthus. 



Jerusalem Sage. See Phlomis. 



Jesuit's Bark. See Cinchona. 



Jew's Mallow. See Corchorus. 



Ignatia; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Monogy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one-leafed, 

 short, bell-shaped, five-toothed; teeth upright, ovate, obtuse. 

 Corolla: one-petalled, funnel-form; tube filiform, of a span 

 length, smooth, upright; border flat, five-parted; divisions 

 oblong, obtuse, perfectly entire. Stamina : filamenta five, 

 inserted into the receptacle, length of the tube, thread-shaped, 

 very smooth ; antherec five, converging into an oblong 

 column, which is five-cornered, sharp, and rough. Pistil: 

 germen very small, Ovate, very smooth ; style filiform, length 

 of the stamina ; stigma slender, two-parted ; divisions awl- 

 shaped. Pericarp: berry pear-shaped, large, one-celled, 

 with a thick woody bark. Seeds: several, covered with a 

 thin cuticle, solid, horny, very hard ; the lateral ones irregu- 

 larly tetragonal, with the inner sides flat, the outward gib- 

 bose, the interior oblique ; the central one hexagonal, with 

 flat sides. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: five-toothed. 

 Corolla: funnel-form, very long. Fruit: one-celled, many- 

 seeded. The species are, 



1. Ignatia Amara; Bitter Beans. Leaves ovate, acute; 

 stem scandent; peduncles axillary, four-flowered or there- 

 abouts. This is a branching tree ; the branches long, round, 

 very smooth, climbing; flowers very long, nodding, white, 

 irl small panicles ; fruit ovate, with a very smooth dry rind. 



Native of the East Indies and Philippine Islands, whence 

 it has been transported to Cochin-china, and other countries, 

 for cultivation. The seeds, known by the name of St. Igna- 

 tius's Beans, are much used in the East Indies, and are 

 reputed to be tonic, diaphoretic, emmenagogue, and anthel- 

 minthic. They are used in the pituitary apoplexy, colic, car- 

 diulgia, intermittent fevers, suppression of the menses, and 

 bites of venomous animals. The dose is from six to twelve 

 grains, reduced to powder, either in wine or water. They 

 never produce any bad effect, although they do not always 

 operate, but are often productive of great relief; too large a. 

 dose will bring on vertigo and convulsions, which may be 

 easily removed by drinking freely of lemonade. The younger 

 Linneus erroneously asserts, that the seeds are as poisonous 

 to animals as those of the Nux Vomica; for a whole nut, 

 weighing a diachm, has been given to oxen, buffaloes, horses, 

 and swine, -without any ill effect. 



2. Ignatia Longiflora. Leaves oblong, waving, acuminate ; 

 peduncles terminating, six-flowered, or thereabouts. This is 

 a branching shrub, five or six feet high, with a smooth green 

 bark, and a white hard wood ; corolla white, with a tube a 

 foot in length. It flowers in November, and fruits in January. 

 Native of Guiana on the banks of large rivers. The Ca- 

 ribbee name is Aymara-Posoqueri. 



Ilex; according to Linneus, a genus of the class Tetran- 

 dria, order Tetragynia ; according to Hudson, class Polyga- 

 mia, order Dioecia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth 

 four-toothed, very small, permanent. Corolla: one-petalled, 

 four-parted, wheel-shaped ; divisions roundish, spreading, 

 rather large, with cohering claws. Stamina: filamenta four, 

 awl-shaped, shorter than the corolla; antherse small. Pistil: 

 germen roundish; style none; stigmas four, obtuse. Peri- 

 carp: berry roundish, four-celled. Seed: solitary, bony, 

 oblong, obtuse, gibbose on one side, cornered on the other. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: four-toothed. Corolla: 



wheel-shaped. Style: none. Berry: four-seeded. The 



species are, 



1. Ilex Aquifolium ; Common Holly. Leaves ovate, acute, 

 spiny, shining, waved ; flowers axillary, subumbelled. It 

 rises from twenty to thirty feet high, and sometimes more, 

 for Bradley mentions a tree sixty feet high ; but its ordinary 

 height is not above twenty-five feet. The trunk is covered 

 with a grayish smooth bark ; and those trees which are not 

 lopped or browzed by cattle, are commonly furnished with 

 branches for the greatest part of their length, and form a sort 

 of cone. Flowers in clusters from the base of the petioles, 

 on very short peduncles, each sustaining five, six, or more 

 flowers, which appear in May ; the corolla of a dirty white. 

 They are succeeded by roundish scarlet berries about Michael- 

 mas, continuing most part of the winter. Mr. Miller says, 

 " In some plants I have observed the flowers were wholly 

 male, and produced no berries ; in others female and her- 

 maphrodite ; but I found all three upon some old trees grow- 

 ing in Windsor Forest." The late Sir William Watson also 

 made an observation of the same sort. Gerarde remarked 

 hermaphrodite flowers with five petals on one tree, and male 

 flowers with a four-parted petal and an abortive germen on 

 another tree. Professor Martin also says, that in the trees 

 which he observed, the petals were four-parted; and Dr. 

 Withering remarks, that he found the Holly in flower so late 

 as the second week in June, and then all the flowers had four 

 stamens and four pistils ; which Haller confirms. Mr. Hud- 

 son, however, describes a five-toothed calix and five-parted 

 corolla in the hermaphrodite, with five stamens, five stigmas, 

 and a four-seeded berry ; in the male, a four-toothed calix, 

 a four-parted corolla, and four stamens : but whether this be 



