80 LOUREIRO ON THE NATURE AND MQD£ 



it, and consequently were wide of the truth 5 

 others passed it over in silence, because they knew 

 nothing of it. Among these is Linnjeus, who 

 has not introduced it in his Systeraa Plantarum ; 

 being, however, obliged to mention it in his 

 Materia Medica,* he describes it as a poisonous, 

 corroding, inebriating plant, belonging to Ficus, 

 and lactescent; which is contrary to truth.f Af- 

 terwards, indeed, BergiusJ quoted Wedel, 

 who considers it as an excellent medicine not at all 

 violent in its operation. 



I had opportunity of seeing and of examining 

 it during many years, while employed in the 

 mission to Cochin China, its native country j 



* Linnsei Materia Medica, Amst. 1749, p. 184. 



+ Linnaeus, mentioning the Agallochum in his Materia Medica as a 

 poisonous drug, does not allude to the plant of Loureiro, but to that 

 which he himself afterwards called Excoecaria Agallochum, and which, 

 according to Rumphius /'Herb. Amboin. Vol. 2. p. %ZJ) yields likewise a 

 substance scarcely to be distinguished from the true Agallochum. That 

 Linnaius referred it to Ficus in the mentioned work, was a mistake, 

 which /'not knowing the true plant producing the drug,! he seems to have 

 been led into by the analogy of the milky juice of Excoecaria. Mr. von 

 Schreber in his editions of Linnxus's Materia Medica suggests, indeed,, 

 his doubts of its belonging to that genus. T. 



\ Bergii. Mat, Med. e regno veget. Vol. II. p-9<?3. 



