MEDICINAL PLANTS OF JAMAICA. ~+~ 199 



merous small pinnated leaves, which collapse immediately on 

 being touched. The blossoms are yellow. The capsule is a 

 flat pod, about an inch long, black, jointed, and somewhat 

 hairy. The roots are woody, with many fibres. 



In Guinea, and in the West Indies, the negroes are dex- 

 terous poisoners. The plants they employ for this purpose 

 are chiefly the lactescent ones, of the order Contort^ viz. 

 Echites suberecta, Cameraria, Plumeria, and Nerium. An 

 antidote against these deleterious substances cannot be too 

 much valued ; and such an one is a decoction of the roots of 

 this plant. 



A handful of the washed roots being boiled in water from 

 three pints to two, may be strained, sweetened, and used for 

 common drink, at the rate of three quarts in twenty-four 

 hours. 



28. Cinchona CaribjEA. — Jesuit's Bark of Jamaica. 



Having given an account of this tree in the Philosophical 

 Transactions, (vol. lxvii. p. 504.) with a figure, the reader is 

 referred to that work. I may, however, add, that I have 

 found trees in the parish of St James's, in Jamaica, fifty feet 

 high, and proportionally thick. The wood is hard, clouded, 

 and takes a fine polish. The bark of the large trunks is 

 rough; the cuticle thick and inert; the inner bark thinner 

 than that of the young trees, but more fibrous. 



I have made use of this bark in all cases where the Peru, 

 vian bark was indicated, and with the greatest success. 



Half an ounce infused in a bottle of white wine or spirits, 

 affords an elegant and grateful bitter. In beginning Typhus 

 I remove the sick into airy chambers, wash their hands and 

 face often in cold water, and direct them to chew a little of 

 this bark with very happy effects. 



