Boyle's Illustrations of the Himalayan Mountains. 253 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. Royle s Illustrations of the Botany and other Branches of 

 the Natural History of the Himalayan Mountains, and of the Flora 

 of Cashmere, fyc. Part X., completing the work as far as p. 384. 

 of the Illustrations of the Natural Orders ; 10 coloured plates, folio. 

 London, 1839. 20s. 



Our last notice of this work is in Vol. XII. p. 318., which was soon after 

 the completion of part ix. Professor Royle apologises " for the very long 

 delay" which has taken place in the appearance of part x., and which he states 

 to have proceeded from his accepting the Professorship of Materia Medica 

 and Therapeutics in King's College, and " the impossibility in which he found 

 himself from being able to give the degree of attention which the work required, 

 and had hitherto received." We are certain that all the purchasers of the 

 work will approve of the delay, rather than hurrying the work to a conclusion, 

 at the risk of rendering the latter part of it less complete than the first. A 

 supplementary part, of which a great portion is prepared, will complete the 

 work, which, as we have before stated, is unequalled by any other of the kind, 

 for sound and comprehensive views. 



Part ix. brought us to the order Artocarpeae, under which there is much 

 interesting information respecting caoutchouc, which is chiefly obtained from 

 plants belonging to this order ; though, to a certain extent, from plants belong- 

 ing to Cichoraceae, LobeMacece, ^fpocyneae, Asc\ep'\ade<z, Euphovbidceee, and 

 C/rticea?, as already noticed in our preceding volume, p. 298, when reviewing 

 Professor Royle's Essay on the Antiquity of Hindoo Medicine. In 1828, 

 caoutchouc was an article unknown in the Calcutta market ; but it is now so 

 extensively used in England, that nearly 500 tons annually are imported from 

 different parts of the world. It is singular that Mr. G. Livingston, late chief 

 secretary to the Bengal Government, first directed attention in India to the 

 caoutchouc, and also to the fact of the tea plant being abundant in Assam. 

 " As the caoutchouc was pronounced to be of no value in the Calcutta market, 

 so the tea was said to be only a camellia ; and as the former has come to be 

 so desirable an article for a commercial body here, so has the latter become an 

 object of solicitude even to the Indian government." (p. 338.) 



Caoutchouc, Dr. Royle observes, is a substance much more extensively 

 diffused in plants than is generally imagined. It is found even in the spindle 

 tree, the leaves of which are occasionally used for feeding silkworms, and which 

 is nearly related to the holly, the birdlime of which is only a modification of 

 caoutchouc. The number of plants suited for feeding silkworms, Dr. Royle 

 suggests, may be increased by experimenting on those belonging to families 

 which yield caoutchouc. The following facts are interesting : — 



" From the fondness of birds for the fruit, and the tenacity of life in the seed, 

 of Ficus indica and F. religiosa, are explained two phenomena very familiar 

 to all who have visited India ; one is that of a palm tree growing out of the 

 centre of the banyan, and the other that of the pippuly (F. religiosa) vegetating 

 (where the seed has been deposited in cracks) on the driest walls and most 

 elevated domes and minarets, which, by its increase, it soon destroys. The 

 former appearance, Dr Roxburgh has also well explained, as proceeding from 

 the seed of the banyan germinating on the moist upper parts of the palmyra 

 tree (Borassus flabelliformis) ; and thence sending down its descending shoots, 

 which, in time, entirely enclose the palm ; this finally appears with only its 

 bunch of leaves projecting beyond the top of the trunk of a lofty banyan, out 

 of which it appears to be growing ; .though actually older, and, like it, having 

 its roots fixed in the ground." (p. 340.) 



Broussonet/a papyrifera affords fibres which are convertible into ropes 

 made into a kind of cloth, or manufactured into paper. The wood is used 



