VOL. XLV.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS, 583 



the other is pecuhar to Egypt, These would be fit improvements for our colonies 

 in America, where we seem to want nothing more than some proper production 

 for the vast tracts of land we are possessed of there. But these plants alone af- 

 ford a commodity, which Pr, Alpinus and Rauwolfius tell us they saw many 

 large ships yearly loaded with in Egypt, and which gives the excellency to the 

 glass and soap that are made at Venice. 



It would be worth while then at least to make a trial of a production, that is 

 likely to improve both our trade abroad, and our manufactures at home. It was 

 this that produced tlie above inquiry, as an improvement fit for our colonies. 



On the Cyprus ♦ of the -Ancients. By Dr. Laurence Garcin, of Neufchatel^ 

 F.R.S. Translated from the French by W. Watson, F.R.S. N°489, p. 564. 



This plant is a shrub, which varies considerably in its size and figure, accord- 

 ing to the nature and soil of the countty where it naturally grows, as well in 

 Asia as in Africa, where this plant is much used, both for its medicine, and for 

 its agreeable odour. 



The author has given the true characters of the fructification of the Cyprus, 

 after the method of the celebrated Linneus. 1. Its calyx is an expanded mono- 

 phyllous cup, cut into 4 lobes, pointed at their extremities, and continuing at- 

 tached to the fruit. 2. Its corolla consists of 4 oval petals, somewhat pointed 

 and sinuous. They grow distant from each other, and are placed between the 

 lobes of the calyx. 3. It has 8 erect stamina, ranged 2 by 2 almost horizon- 

 tally, and parallel to the sides of the petals, and surpass them in length about 

 half a line. They grow from the base of the embryo at a little distance from 

 one another, and arise diminishing in their bulk to their extremities. Their 

 antherae or summits form each of them a little kind of purse. 



4. Its pistillum is round, and occupies the middle of the calyx. Its style is 

 erect, and terminated with a pointed stigma. Its length somewhat exceeds 

 that of the stamina. 5. Its pericarpium is a round dry capsule, slightly four- 

 cornered ; each of which corners has a small prickle. It is divided into 4 com- 

 partments by an extremely delicate membrane, arising from a placenta, which 

 occupies the centre of the capsule. 6. Its seeds are small and numerous : each 

 of them is pyramidal, and somewhat quadrangular, of which the point is some- 

 times straight and sometimes crooked. Every seed is fastened by its point to the 

 placenta, as to a common centre, and their bases are sustained by the sides of 

 the capsule, all the cavity of which is filled by them. 



There is but one species of this shrub generally known through all the East ; 

 and this is subject to vary according to the climate, the season, and the soil. 



* This shrub Ls the Lawsonia inermis of Linneus. 



