vol,. XXr.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 347 



nobleman. There are two defects in this work ; the one, want of method ; the 

 other, of description, l . As for method, there is none at all observed in it, the 

 species being promiscuously and indiscreetly placed as they came to hand, with- 

 out any order or connection. 2. Besides the names, the stature and magnitude, 

 the places where he found them, or persons from whom he received them, he 

 has to a great number of these plants added no descriptions of the principal parts, 

 root, stak, leaf, flower, fruit. He would also have obliged us, if he had given 

 the synonyms of such as he took to have been described by others before him, 

 together with the names of the authors of such synonyms and descriptions. Yet 

 notwithstanding all this, we ought rather thankfully to accept what he has done, 

 by enriching the history of plants with such a multitude of new species, than 

 to censure or reprehend him for what he has not done. 



END OP VOLUME TWENTIETH OF THE ORIGINAL. 



A Description of the true Amomum, or Tugus, sent from the Reverend Father 



George Camelli, at the Phillipine Isles, to Mr. John Ray and Mr. James 



Petiver, Fellows of the Royal Society. N° 248, p. 2. Fol. XXL 



Camelli in this paper supposes the tugus to be the true amomum of Dioscorides. 



He says it sometimes rises to the height of nine cubits. The flowering stem 



rises to the height of a palm and half, and is covered with red flowers. 



An Account ofAinher. By M. Phil. Jack. Hartman. N° 248, p. 5. An Ab- 

 stract from the Latin. 



A history and description of amber, in 6 sections. Of which sections the 

 1st gives an account of the countries in which amber is met with ; Sect. 2, of the 

 matrix of amber (which the author represents to be a fossil wood) and of the 

 manner in which amber is produced in the said matrix ; Sect. 3, of the extraneous 

 bodies adhering to and imbedded in amber ; Sect. 4, of the class to which amber 

 should be referred, and in what respects it differs from other minerals. [The 

 author thinks that it belongs not to metallic, earthy, saline, bituminous, or sul- 

 phureous bodies ; but that it should be referred to the class of gems or precious 

 stones.*]] In this section the author makes mention of the electrical property and 

 medicinal virtues of amber; Sect. 5, of the chemical analysis of amber, and of 

 certain of its pharm'aceutical preparations ; here we have an account of its oil 

 and purified salt, which last the author shows to be of an acid nature, and is 

 induced to regard it as a modification of the vitriolic acid ; Sect. 6, and last, of 

 the laws, regulations, fiscal dues, &c. relative to the digging of amber. 



* A most erroneous notion. 



Y Y 2 



