J46 MEDICINAL PLANTS* 



H Tournefort relates, that an essential salt may be obtained from- 

 tamarinds, by dissolving the pulp in water, and setting the filtered 

 solution, with some oil upon the surface, in a cellar for severat 

 months; that the salt is of a sourish taste, and difficultly dissoluble 

 in water ; and that a like salt is sometimes found also naturally con- 

 creted on the branches of the tree. The salt, Beaume observes, 

 may be obtained more expeditiously, by clarifying the decoction of 

 the tamarinds with whites of eggs, then filtering it, and evaporating 

 it to a proper consistence, and setting it to cool : the salt shoots 

 into crystals of a brown colour, and very acid taste ; but in dissolv- 

 ing and crystallizing them again, or barely washing them with water, 

 they lose almost all their acidity, the acid principle of the tama- 

 rinds seeming not to be truly crystallizable." 



[Lewis. Tournefort. IVoodville. Culler*. 



SECTION VI. 



Jesuits Bark. Peruvian Bark. 



Cinchona. Linn. 



Six species have been discovered as belonging to this genus, all 

 f which are employed for the same medical purpose. We shall 

 enumerate them chiefly from Zea *, since the arrangement of Lin* 

 naeus, as improved by his learned editors Gmelin and Turton b 

 imperfect, and that of Wildenow less elegant. 



1. C. cordifolia. Heart-leaved cinchona on yellow-bark. 



2. C. lancifolia. Lance-leaved cinchona, quilled or common 

 bark. 



3. C. oblongifolia. Oblong-leaved cinchona, or red bark. 



4. C. angustifolia. Narrow-leaved cinchona. 



5. C. caribaea. Caribbean cinchona. 



6. C. floribunda. St. Lucia cinchona. 



The first three species were originally named as we have given 

 them above by Dr. Mutis, 1792, in a publication, entitled, Papel 

 Periordis de Santa Fe, who from a residence of more than forty 

 years in South America, had the best opportunities hitherto obtain- 

 ed by any botanist of investigating this important tribe, and whose 

 observations, as we have just glanced at already, are more fully 



* i . i ., 1 1 . . . 



* Annates de Hist. Nat. vol. ii. 196, Madrid 1800. 



