510 



N A T U U A L A H 11 A N CJ E M K N T. 



at the (>C (•iMvl lIo|t<>, aitil by tlif I'liltniit-.i*. DnvlcNiln*, Aohiiics, niul niultttiKUM of suiiilnr {^onorn in 

 New llolUiul I'hf wihkI iif Ihr i»ril»T !■ viMy haril niul ttiinibli- with ii >t lU)\v tinj,'!', soiiu'tiiiu's i lmiiKiiiK into 

 frtvit, at in r . / it' Mni 1^ .'t I ,11 .MX-, ami in the lu-ltrr kiuiwii Hnuil wikxI nf iHmiiiiorcf, pioilurod by C'a'HuI- 

 piHM. 1! ii|Miii tlie |>rti(H*rlu*« i>r the (iriit'r are inadt' by M. DiH'aiutdlli' : — 



•• I he i.i , ili.iiUjh ei>ial)liiihiHl upon eh.'irtt« tern (if |>rinuiry hnportaiu-i", olU-rs, never. 



th^lr^^ • . , . .iiitl Kut-h ainKular botanirni tinoninlU's, that it in eiii>y to toirsoe tlint ita 



!«».; 111.- iiiiiiorniitv Still more exception* may Ih> antlclpnied, it' one rellerts tliat the 



rh< '• la found moat abundantly in every |>nrt of leKuminouM plantit, and to u liit h we miiMt 



alii .1 pr»>|MTtie», !• the rvtrni tlve. It in probable that tint principle, cither IVoin its own 



luiiuir, >ii ii.'ui it > i» V iiliar |Hiwrr of iniitin}t with ditlbrent niJitterK, or perhaps inotc.id of beiiiK a simple prin. 

 ciple. It it rather a com|»<>und of «liillTent matters ; It !» j»rolial)le, 1 nay, that the extractive principle cxhiliitu 

 much !(*«« unifiirinily in ita rcMilt* than any other. It lit, witliout doubt, to the prcaencc ol the extractive 

 principle, in comideral'lc ()uaiitlti(>«, that many lenunmiouii plantit owe their purgative properties, which 

 are ruminon to tevcr.tl e\tra(-t«, and whu h many chcmiKlK attribute to the acetate of iiotjish, which they 

 are aliuiMt untvcr>^iUy fouml to contain. Thmt the le.iveH and Ibliuceous pods of (VtHsiu Si'ntiii Liii., of (Vishiu 

 tancetil it.t Fiirtt , of ('a>»ia emarKiniita of tlic Antilles, of the Cishia maryl.indica employed in the United StiitcH, 

 oft'oLitci arlxireM-cn*. of (Vcnista iiiiryuiK, and pcrha|is also ofCoronllla K'incruH, act 'as brisk purKatives, and 

 often Ciiu«c wiinl and pain in the ImiwcIs. rhcjuicc ol l oronllla v^ria excites vomiting, and may even become 

 tMtixiiuuK Mhcii taken in tiKi lartte (|uaiititieM. It i», pcrliaps, iVom a iliH'erent cause that the pulp whi(^h 

 It cimtaiiuHt III the luukt of IcKuminouK plants operates u]>oii the human body ; it pur(;es gently without causing 

 the lea«t pnlii, ami oU);ht to be cnnsideriHl as laxati\f riithcr than purgative. Siicli is tlie character of the 

 juicy pulp that t-xistt in the CirtNia flhtula I. in., in thi- 'I'lnnnthiitiis liulica /./«., in the Cerathnia silimia 

 Lin., and prolubly in the I una v6ia and /. puncttkta, which are eaten in small (|uantilics in the Antilles, 

 but which, taki-n more copiously, would have the same i-d'cct as our ("arobs. Tiicre arc some fruits of 

 Legumiiii'i^iP, for example, the .Vo/iAiVrt and tin- (ilwUtsch/Vj, with tumid podH, in which is found a juice which 

 iurn>unds, it i^ true, the (ee<ls, as in the plants ju>t meiilioiicd, but wiiich dili'ers from them altogether in its 

 very antriiiRent and nauseous Havour ; the nature and properties of this juice deserve to be examined by 

 chemi^t^, and wouUI uiidoubtiMlly throw some liKht u]>on tli(> nature of LeKuminbsa*. I am induced to think, 

 that the astriii>;cnt Juice (»f the Sojihora is a secretion of thi' pericarp, whilst the sweet and purgative juice 

 of the (Vissin would be a secretion of the external part of the seed ; but this hypothesis re(juires U) be verilled : 

 what lends ine to thi:i opinion, is the flavour commonly found in huKks ; in the C'arobs, tor exam]ile, tlie husk 

 is astringent, and the milp sweet and laxative. lJut let us return to the properties which may be attriiiuted to 

 the extractive priiiciide. It is undoubtedly from some one of thes'j modiflcations that the HinRular jiroperty of 

 the I'iscidia and many fJalegas is derived, which arc emjiloyed in America to Ktu^)efy fish, which are taken by 

 this means as reailily as with Nux vomica. The decoction of the root ol (iah ga virgiiiiJina is (oiisidered 

 in America as a jKiwerful vermifuge. It is, perliaps, indeed, to the very same cause t hat the rul)efa<-ieiil powers 

 of the fresh leaves of some Leguinin^isajare to be ascribed, which act readily upon the .skin if applied as jilasters ; 

 JU, for example, in Ornithopus scorpi/ndcs among ourselves, and Morlfi^a iiterygosjit'rina elsewhere. 1 1 appears 

 to me, that it is to the greater or less considerable mixture of the extractive principle with the fascula 

 contained in the seed, that the difl'erent projierties of the pulse of leguminous jilants may be attributed. If 

 found in sm.ill «iuantitie8, the seed may serve as food lor man and animals, as we sec in French beans, jieas, 

 lentils, chick peas, beans, and manv others, Ac. If ibund in a more considerable quantity, it will render them 

 purgative or emetic, as in the Cytisus Labi'irnum, the >4nag>'ri8 fcp'tida, and even in most C'oronillas. It 

 IS remarkable that the botanical characters of lycguminusa! should so strictly agree with the j)ropertieH of their 

 seeds : the latter may be divided into two sections ; namely, first, those of which the colyleclons are thick and 

 filled with fa?cula, and destitute of cortical pores, and which, moreover, in germination do not undergo 

 any change, but nourish the young plant by means of that supply of food which they already contain ; secondly, 

 those of which the cotyledons are thin, with very little fa?cula, and furnished with cortical fiores, and which 

 change at once into leaves at the time of germination, for the purjiose of elaborating food for the young plant. 

 All the seeds of the tirs-t section are employed as food in difleient countries; none of those of the second 

 section are ever so employed ; the Cajan, which has long been classed among the t'Jtisi, was aiiparently 

 an cxcejition to this general rule; but observation has proved the contrary. Hearing in mind its known 

 properties, I formerly paid jorticular attention to its structure, and I have shown in a note which accompa- 

 nies my catalogue of the Montpelicr garden, that the Cajan forms a particular genus much more nearly allied to 

 the French bean than to the C^tisi, and that it, in fact, belongs to the first of the sections which I have 

 just described. The seefis of Lcguminbsa; present also many other anomalies more difficult to reduce to any 

 fixed laws : thus some are found which contain a rather large portion of fixed oil; such as the seed of the 

 i4'rachis hypogs^a, lately introduced into European agriculture, and that of Mo7-ingfi pterygosix'rma which pro- 

 duces oil of ben : there arc some, of which the flavour and smell are rather powerful ; as the seed of Diptcrix 

 or Coumnroi'ina odura of Aublet, which, under the name of Tonquin bean, is used for perfuming snuff : there 

 are others which, like the chick pea, have rather a bitter taste and exciting properties, and are on that 

 account administered for the jaundice. There are others again, like those of the Andira, which are so bitter 

 as to be used in Java and Brazil as tonic, alexiteric, and vermifuge. In a word, are not the aperient and 

 diuretic properties which are observable in the herbage and the roots of many leguminous plants, such as 

 broom, beans, Ononis, Moringa pterygosp^rma, y^nthyllis cretica, &c., to be attributed to a modification of this 

 extractive principle ? There arc, in another view, roots which are furnished with tubercles, that is to say, with 

 reservoirs of fsecula, which furnish mankind with wholesome food, as we see in the Lathyrus tuberbsus, which 

 is eaten in Holland, the /Jolichos tuberbsus, and the D. bulbosus, which the Indians use as food. The roots 

 of the liquorice have a sweet and mucilaginous taste, which is well known by every body, and which, united to 

 an acrid and rather exciting principle, causes it to be employed as a pectoral ; the analysis of this root, 

 published by M. Kobiquet, proves that, independently of its woody skeleton, the same kind of amylaceous 

 fjBcula is found as in the tuberous roots of which w e have just been speaking ; it is thence seen that the acrid 

 flavour of decoctions of liquorice depends on the small quantity of resinous oil which it contains, and that 

 its sweet properties are by no means analogous to common sugar, since it is insoluble in cold water, .soluble in 

 warm water or in alcohol, not capable of fermentation, and does not yield to the action of nitric acid any 

 of the known products of sugar. It may here be added, that the sugary flavour of liquorice, and its other 

 properties, are not confined to this genus ; they are found equally in the roots of yrifTilium alplnum, vulgarly 

 called Mountain liquorice; in those of the A^brus precatorius, from which a pectoral draught is prepared 

 in Hindoostan, called Velti, and in others. The barks of some trees of the leguminous class are remarkable 

 for their bitterness, and are used as febrifuges ; the different kinds of Geofl'rbya and Amlira possess this bitter 

 and febrifugal quality in a remarkable degree ; in India, the bark of the Agi'iti grandiflbra and of the 

 Guilandmrt TBonducMa are employed for the same purpose. The barks of many leguminous plants are al.so 

 remarkable for their astringent qualities, caused by the quantity of tannin which they arc found to contain ; 

 this is observable in the /fc^cia Cdtechu, and in the Ackc\a. arabica, which is used for tanning leather, 

 and elsewhere. It is well known that almost all colouring matter proceeds from the extractive principle; and 

 as it appears that this principle abounds in Leguminbsas, we ought to find in them a considerable number of 

 the colors which are used by dyers : to this family, in fact, belong the principal blue colors, known by 

 the name of indigo, extracted from every kind of Indigofera, and from some Galegas ; and the red colors, 

 which are yielded by all the species of Caesalpinia and of Haematoxylon. We may add the red juice, which is 

 drawn from the Pterocarpus draco and santalinus, under the name of sandal and of dragon's blood ; from 

 Butefl frondbsa, under the name of gum lac ; and also from Dalbergia Monetkria. These juices appear to 

 differ in many particulars, but their history and analysis are at present so far from being known, that it is 

 impossible to form a true estimate of the nature of their differences. But anomalies of this nature are far from 

 being confined to the plants ju.«t mentioned. Among the exotic drugs employed in the arts they are very 

 common : such, for example, are the balsam of Capivi, produced by the copaifera ; the balsam of Peru, which, 



