VOL. VIII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 5^ 



swims upon olive oil ; effects of the distillations of water in various vessels ; of 

 fulminating powders ; of the oil of tobacco ; of the torpedo fish ; of water- 

 newts, eagle-stones, &c. ; of the strong digestive power of fowls ; of the blood 

 and horn of the rhinoceros, of stags horns ; of pimento, Chinese fennel, sassa- 

 frass, Peruvian bark, ginseng, &c. 



Description and Management of the Cacao-tree * N° 93, p. 6007. 



The body of the cacao is about 4 inches in diameter, 5 feet in height, and 

 above 1 2 from the ground to the top of the tree. These trees are very differ- 

 ent from each other; for some shoot up in 2 or 3 bodies; others in one. Their 

 leaves are many of them dead, and most discoloured, unless on very young 

 trees. The number of cods the tree produces is uncertain : but we reckon a 

 bearing tree yields from 2 to 8 pounds of nuts a year; and each cod contains 

 from 20 to 30 nuts. 



Cacao was originally of these [the West] Indies and wild. Towards Ma- 

 racajo are divers spots of it in the mountains ; and I am informed, the Portu- 

 guese have lately discovered whole woods of it up the river of Maranon. 



Inquiries concerning Stones and other Materials for the Use of Building ; and on 

 the Art of hardening and tempering Steel for cutting Porphyry and other hard 

 Marbles. N° 93, p. 6010. 



There is a sort of grey free-stone at Paris, every where on the south-side of 

 the river Seine, rather of a coarse grit, and so soft when first taken out of the 

 quarry, that it is dressed and hewn with broad sharp axes, almost as easily as 

 dried clay; but it grows harder and harder in the air, very durable, and fit for 

 building. The Portland stone is of a fine chalky grit, fit for all curious hewn 

 and carved work, though not for water or fire. On the contrary, the free- 

 stone in Kent, is of a whitish grey colour, lasts well in air and water; its grit 

 less fine and chalky, than that of Portland. The Derbyshire freestone, though 

 it endure the fiercest fire, is brittle, and consequently unfit for fine and curious 

 workmanship. 



Concerning marbles. Query, whether Salisbury marble be a true, though 

 coarse, natural marble ? Whether blue marbles, coming much from Genoa and 

 Leghorn as ballast, be harder than white marble, but take not so good a polish? 



* The cacao, or chocolate- tree, is the theobroma cacao of Linnaeus, and is elegantly figured in 

 Madam Merian's celebrated work on tlie Surinam insects, pi, 60, It is also represented in Cate»by's 

 Carolina, appendix, pi. 6. 



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