232 MEDICINAL PLANTS OF JAMAICA. 



It is now found that the castor oil can be procured as cheap 

 as the fish oil of America : it burns clearer, and has not any 

 offensive smell. This oil, too, is fit for all the purposes of 

 the painter, or for the apothecary in ointments and plasters. 



As a medicine, it purges without stimulus, and is so mild 

 as to be given to infants soon after birth, to purge off the 

 meconium. All oils are noxious to insects, but the castor oil 

 kills and expels them. It is generally given as a purge af- 

 ter using the cabbage-bark some days. 



In constipation and belly-ache this oil is used with remark- 

 able success. It sits well on the stomach, allays the spasm, 

 and brings about a plentiful evacuation by stool, especially if 

 at the same time fomentations, or the warm bath, are used. 



Belly-ache is at present less frequent in Jamaica than for- 

 merly, owing to several causes. The inhabitants, in general, 

 live better, and drink better liquors ; but the excessive drink- 

 ing of new rum still makes it frequent amongst soldiers, sail- 

 ors, and the lower order of white people. I have known it 

 happen too, from visceral obstructions after intermittents, or 

 marsh fevers, in Jamaica. 



(There are three kinds of the Palma Christi, which can 

 only be distinguished by the fruit. 1st, The rough, large 

 and prickly skinned oil- nut. M, The small prickly oil-nut ; 

 and, 3d, The smooth skinned oil-nut. The two first-are the 

 best ; the last being often useless. 



The castor-oil nut-tree grows wild in the West Indies. It 

 is cultivated in the gardens of the curious in Europe. In 

 Jamaica it is triennial. The leaves are broad, shining, and of 

 a deep green colour. The berries when dry, open in three 

 compartments, and contain three rounded seeds, of the size, 

 shape and colour of a tick ; hence its Latin name. 



On exposure to the sun, the pericarpium splits open, and 



