SWIEtENIA FEBRIFUGA. 
87 
mouth of the nectary; the germen is conical, bearing a thick 
tapering style, crowned with a large targeted stigma, which shuts up 
the mouth of the nectary ; the capsule is large, ovate, and five- 
valved, with the valves gaping from the top ; the seeds are many in 
each cell, obliquely wedge-shaped, imbricated, and have a large, 
oblong, membranous wing.* 
The genuine name, Swietenia, was given to this tree by Jacquin, 
in honour of that celebrated physician. Baron Van Swieten, founder 
of the botanic garden at Vienna. Another species of this genus, 
the (Swietenia Mahagoui) common mahogany, a native of the West 
Indies, was cultivated in England in 1739 by M. P. Miller, who 
considered it a species of cedrus. 
Sensible Qualities, &c. The external appearance of this 
bark is rough, of a greyish colour ; internally it is of a light red ; 
its texture is compact, but brittle ; it is nearly inodorous, and has a 
very bitter austere, but not nauseous taste. Water extracts its 
virtues, both by infusion and decoction : it also gives out its virtues 
to proof spirit. The wood of this tree (when treated in the same 
manner as the Acacia Catechu) yields an extract very similar to 
kino.f 
Medical Properties and Uses. The bark of the Swietenia 
possesses very considerable astringent and tonic powers; and we 
have the testimony of Lind, Wright, and many other respectable 
authorities, that the bark has been found to answer the general 
purposes of that of the cinchona. In India it has long been used 
for the cure of intermittents, with considerable advantage; but in 
Europe it has been very little employed. This particular species of 
Swietenia (febrifuge) was first described by Dr. Roxburgh, botanist 
to the East India Company, who recommends the bark to be collected 
where the sap begins to ascend freely ; he is also of opinidn that 
the small sized branches yield the bark best suited for medical 
purposes. We are told by Mr. Breton,! that in a number of cases of 
confirmed remittent bilious fevers, (commonly called jungle fever) 
he put this bark to the fairest possible test ; and as success was 
uniformly the result of repeated trials, he thinks himself warranted 
in concluding it to be an efficient substitute for the Peruvian bark. 
* Our drawing was taken from both a dried specimen, and an original drawing of 
PiOxburgh's, in the Herbarium and Librarj of the Medico- Botunical Societj of London. 
i Medico Chirurg. Trans, vol. xi. p. 32S. 
X Vide Medico Chirurg. Trans. vo\. xi. 
