244 



THE BLACKTHORN. 



mented with water, and a spirit distilled from it. 

 In Daupliine, the juice of the ripe fruit is used 

 for colouring wine. Letters marked on linen or 

 woollen with this juice will not wash out. The 

 substance sold by druggists under the name of 

 German Acacia is prepared from the juice of the 

 unripe fruit. ^ 



The bark, according to Dr. Lindley, is one of 

 the substances which has been reported to re- 

 semble Jesuits' bark"f in its effects. It may 

 be used for tanning leather; a decoction of it 

 with alkali dyes yellow, and it may be employed 

 Vv'ith advantage as a substitute for galls in the 

 manufacture of ink. There are several varieties, 

 differing principally in the size of the leaf and 

 fruit ; but the only one deser\ing notice is the 

 double flowered, which is cultivated and said to be 

 highly prized in Japan and China for the abund- 

 ance of its blossom. 



* The true^ or Egypticni Acacia^ is the production of Accvcia Nilo- 

 tica^ and is used in medicine as a mild astringent. 



t Jesuits' bark, Peruvian bark, or (as it is simply called) Bark, 

 is the produce of several species of trees growing in Peru, and belong- 

 ing to the genus Cincliona. The order to which these trees belong, 

 CinclionacecB^ is remarkable for containing a large number of plants, 

 the medicinal properties of which render them highly valuable to man. 

 Many of them partake largely of the properties residing in Peruvian 

 bark ; Ipecacuanha, on many accounts, is a valuable ally of the phy- 

 sician, and several other genera possess similar virtues ; Coffee be- 

 longs to the same order ; while the properties of some are so active 

 that they are said to be a certain antidote against the bite of serpents, 

 and others are so deleterious in their effects that Indians have been 

 poisoned by using the wood to make spits for roasting meat upon, 

 while others again are employed for the destruction of rats and mice. 

 Jesuits' bark received its name from having been introduced into 

 notice by Cardinal de Lugo and the Jesuits about the middle of the 

 seventeenth century. The tree which produces it derived its name 

 " Cinchona " from the Lady of the Spanish Viceroy, the Countess del 

 Cinchon, who vvas cured by the bark. According to some, the Peru- 



