VLMACE&. 1T3 



The juice of Antiaris toxicaria has been proposed as a curative ; it is 

 an energetic évacuant, but probably very dangerous. Beside this 

 species some are mentioned as not injurious, as A. innoxia 1 and A. 

 Bennetti? which have various uses in the Yiti isles, principally to 

 prepare and dye the barks of which the natives make their coarse 

 garments. In Ceylon, A. saccidora 3 is employed to make tissues and 

 especially sacks, the foundation of wbich is a thin round of wood the 

 only portion preserved of an entire log chosen of the height desired 

 for the sack ; the coats of this are formed of the cylinder of bark 

 separated by beating and finally turned. Other Artocarpeœ have an 

 acrid and caustic juice, notably Piratinera spuria* of the Antilles 

 and many species of Artocarpus. In singular contrast to these 

 qualities of their latex, diametrically opposite qualities apparently 

 are ascribed to that of the famous Cow tree of South America, 

 Piratinera utilise which constitutes a true vegetable milk analogous, 

 it is said, in its physical properties and alimentary value, to the milk 

 of the cow f although it has been more recently remarked that 

 great abatement must be made from the value attributed to this 

 aliment 7 which is obtained in abundance from incisions made in the 

 bark. A thick and viscous gummy milk is also extracted from the 

 bark of Piratinera Alicastrum 8 a Jamaican species and its young 



1 Bl. Rumphia i. 172, t. 54. — A. toxicaria to contain a fatty matter soluble at 40°, 



Hook. Comp. to Bot. Mag. t. 17 (not Lesch.). which, united with an albuminoid substance, 



— A. Dubia Span. Linnœa, xv. 343. — Arbor salts, etc., would constitute a complete aliment. 



toxicaria fecmina Pu'mph. Herb. Amboin. ii. 2fi4. But there is great difference as to the propor- 



~ Seem. Bonplaudia, ix. (1861), 259; x. 3. tions of these useful ingredients between ob- 



t. 7; Fl. Vit. 253, t. 72 CMavu ni Toga, Mami). servers who have treated of this juice. The 



3 Dalz. Hoo . Jouru. iii. 232. — Wight, Icon. fruit is said to be edible but viscous. 



t. 195S. — A. Zeylanica Seem. Bonplaiidia, x. 4. 7 Haiicoy (Tour du Monde, xii. 167, 216) says 



' — Lepurandra saccidora Nimmo, PI. Bomb. 193. that this milk, at first very sweet to the palate 



M. Thwaites (Eniiin. PL Zeyl. 427) believes soon leaves in the mouth a bitter and disagree- 



this species identical with A. innoxia Bl. able taste, that its daily use as an alimentary 



4 BrosHmum spariitm Sw. Fl. I»d. Occ. 20. — substance o would soon produce serious disorders 

 Milk-wood, P. Bh Jam. 369, n. 8. in the animal economy, and that the natives 



5 Galactodendron utile H. B. K. Nov. Gen. ct taste it partly from want of occupation, partly 

 Spec. vii. 163. — Endl. Enchirid. 168 — Mer. et to assuage their thirst, partly to show the 

 Del. Diet. Mai. Mid. iii. 321. — Rosentu. Sijii. curious that a small dose of this liquid may 

 PI. Staph. 196. — Hook. Bot. Mar/, t. 2723, be taken without danger ; but that they do not 

 2724. — Brosiintim utile Endl. — Lindl. Veg. make their nourishment of it ; that they use it 

 Kingd. 270 (Palo de Yaca, Saudi). mixed with soot to calk their vessels, also as an 



6 It contains 3"73 per cent, of fibrin and astringent in cases of tenesmus and dysentery, 

 vegetable albumen (Ami. de C'/iim. et Phys. vii. 3 Brosiiiuim Alicastrum Sw. Fl. Lid. Occ. i. 17 



182). M. Boussingault has collected this t. 1, fig. 1. — Tuss. Joum. Bot. i. 202, t. 7. 



vegetable milk and stated its alimentary Rosenth. op. cit. 196. — Alicastrum arboreum fol. 



qualities. Solly found that it contained Oiat. Alt. Fruct. Solitary's P. Br. Jam. 372 



30'57 per cent, of galactine. It is said also (Bread Nat). 



