REVIEWS. 345 



its purgative effects bear a close resemblance to those of castor oil, both in 

 the length of time that elapses before its operation, and in the bulk of the 

 stools produced. 



When over-doses are taken, it produces most violent hypercartharsis, 

 cold sweats, and vomiting, succeeded by collapse, and if remedial means 

 are not promptly employed, even death. I have observed that the negroes 

 also use it as an expectorant and rubifacient. The best specimens are 

 liquid, but it is more generally found concrete, and could be procured in 

 abundance from the coast, as an article of commerce. Mr. Redwood found 

 this oil to be entirely soluble in ether, and that alcohol separated it into 

 two parts, a concrete substance which was dissolved, and an oil fluid, at 

 ordinary temperatures, in which the alcohol took no effect. The former 

 contained the bitter principle and the nauseous odour of the oil, the latter 

 was nearly colourless and tasteless. The oil owes its bitterness to an 

 alkaloid principle, which MM. Petroz and Robinet ( ( Journ. de Pharmacie, 

 t. vii, p. 48), found also in the bark of the tree. 



EtttTOT. 



The Canadian Naturalist and Geologist for February has three or 

 four papers of economic interest — viz., " On the Primitive Formations in 

 Norway and in Canada, and their Mineral "Wealth," by Thomas Macfarlane ; 

 " On the Shore -Zones and Limits of Marine Plants on the North-east Coast 

 of the United States," by the Rev. A. Kemp ; and " On the Mammals and 

 Birds of the District of Montreal," by Dr. Hall. 



Haiti as it is : Being Notes of Five Months' Sojourn in the North 

 and North-west of Haiti. By Robert S. E. Hepburn. De Cordova, 

 Jamaica. 

 This is a work which might be read with interest by those visiting the 

 Haitian Court at the International Exhibition. The accounts here given, 

 and the productions and manufactures shown at South Kensington, proves 

 that there are resources and industries of importance yet to be developed, 

 in what Washington Irving has termed " one of the most beautiful islands 

 in the world, and doomed to be one of the most unfortunate." Mr. Hep- 

 burn, who was geologist to the republic, speaks of large mining resources 

 in the island, and especially of its vast fields of lignites, although the 

 deposits have not yet been worked. He remarks : 



" The relative commercial value of mineral fuel is determined accord- 

 ing to the percentage of combustible matter which each variety contains. 

 There are several varieties of mineral fuel, known respectively as peat, 

 lignite, anthracite and bituminous coal. The last named variety is found 

 only in the old geological formations, the former varieties chiefly within 

 the tertiaries and human period. The deposits of mineral fuel in Haiti, 

 fall chiefly under the head of Lignite and Anthracite. Judging from the 

 fossils, principally conchifers and bivalves, similar but not the same with 

 extant shells, which accompany these deposits, I conclude that they belong 

 to the Eocene or early Tertiary formation. 

 vol. ii. C C 



