226 



animals. Raising our minds to more general 

 considerations, we shall regard, with Mr. Gay- 

 Lussac, the caoutchouc as the oily part, the 

 butter of vegetable milk. We find in the milk 

 of plants caseum and caoutchouc ; in the milk 

 of animals, caseum and butter. The propor- 

 tions of the two albuminous and oily principles 

 differ in the various species of animals and of 

 lactescent plants. In these last they are most 

 frequently mixed with other substances hurtful 

 as food ; but of which the separation might per- 

 haps be obtained by chemical processes. A 

 vegetable milk becomes nourishing, when it is 

 destitute of acrid and narcotic principles ; and 

 abounds less in caoutchouc, than in caseous 

 matter. 



If the palo de vaca display to us the immense 

 fecundity and the bounty of nature under the 

 torrid zone, it reminds us also of the numerous 

 causes, which favour in those fine climates the 

 careless indolence of man. Mungo Park has 

 made known to us the butter-tree of Bambarra, 

 which Mr. de Candolle suspects to be of the 

 family of the sapotas, as well as our milk-tree. 

 The plantains, the sago-tree, the mauritias of 

 the Oroonoko, are as much bread-trees as the 

 rema of the South Sea. The fruits of the cres^ 

 centia and the lecythis serve for vessels : the 

 spathes of the palms, and the bark of trees, fur- 

 nish caps and garments without a seam. The 



