Dec. 1, 1903.] THE TROPICAL 
A VICTIM OP THE MOSQUITO 
PLANT. 
(From a Correspondent. ) 
As Ilie here vvilh my swollen face and aching 
hands, I leili^e vivi<lly why the fixed epithet 
" futal,'' siioald be ;Ut iched to curioaiiy. At. ;i 
time when discasnion waxed liob in the local Pretvs 
on the merits and demerits of the jj;ieat Mo^q -i 
Plant, or as scieabists call it, Ocimum viri lb.. 
my fates ordained that I should become the p; n 1 
possessor of a fine young specimen. They were 
only to be obLaiued from the Afitri-HorticuUurcil 
(iarJens in Madras, and it was through the mis- 
taken kindness of the Secretary that my fat \ l 
curiosity was satisfied, and I obtained my desire. 
In due time the plant arrived. At first it seemed 
very ordinary ami not unlike a glorified nettle ; 
but it was treated with the care its rarity in 
these parts seemed to call for, put under the special 
protection of the malee, placed in a secluded part 
of the garden, and carefully tended by myself. 
Shortly afterwards I was laid up in bed for a few 
days with a slig ht indisposition, and it struck me, 
as I was greati y troubled with mosquitoes, that 
it would be an excellent opportunity to try the 
much-vaunted cvirtues of the plant. Ocimum 
viricLis was accordingly brought in with all due 
ceremony, and installed on a small table by my 
bedside. Then, remembering, or seeming to 
remember the accounts of how various cor- 
respondents had crushed the leaves and 
rubbed themselves over with them, much 
to the discomfiture of surrounding clouds of 
mosquitoes, I snipped ofif a leaf, thoroughly 
rubbed my face and hands with it and awaited 
the I'esult with confidence. The mosquitoes soon 
discovered their apparently unprotected prey and 
three or four swooped down on me. They did not 
appear to care for it much and left in a hurry, 
but, to my amazement, shortly afterwards settled 
on the plant itself, where they apparently browsed 
with great content. This somewhat shook my 
faith. As a further protection, therefore, I 
crushed the stalk of the leaf and well rubbed the 
juice of it in. The general result seemed success- 
ful, as no mo-quitoes moleaied me tliat night. I 
then thought tiie inclilent closed and the virtue of 
the plant proved. I found, hojvever, that I had 
reckoned without my plant, which now proceeded 
to avenge itself with a leisurely vindictivene-s 
worthy of tliH reddest of Ke 1 Indians. The first 
indicatioi»s of its nialignity appeared next morn- 
ing, ina slight rash under the eyes, but to which 
little attention was paid ; by evening, however, 
these increased to lair-sized blisters, while more 
spots showed themselves wherever the leaf and 
stalk had been rubbed. All next day the rash 
steadily increased and be.-an to be very painful. 
The Doctor was called in, but his treatment, 
'though mitigating the evil, was powerless to 
arrest the vengeance of the plant, and for five 
long days my hands, face and neck have been as 
Ijad y scalded. While lying waiting for things to 
take a turn for the better, 1 have tiied in vain to 
persuade my friends and the Doctor, in the inter- 
ests of Science, to make experiments on them- 
selves in order to find out whether it was the leaf 
'^ir the stalk that did the damage. For myself, I 
am content to consider the efficacy of the plant, 
a^ a mosquitofuge, sufficiently proved, but I am 
^ound to confess I prefer the evil to the remedy. 
AGRICULTURIST. 399 
GUTTA PERCHA OB' PALAQUIUM 
PETIOLA FROM CEYLON. 
(Bulletin of the Imper ial Institule — Supplement 
to the Board of Trade Journal.) 
These samples of gutta peicha were for- 
warded for examination from "Oeylon. It was 
stated that the specimens had been collected 
from one, species of tree only, viz., Palaquium 
petiolare, Engl., growing at Hinidoou Kanda', 
South- West Ceylon, and that the supply vrould 
be almost unlimited. Three distinct samples, 
prepared by different methods, were submitted: — 
(a) " 20 balls, each prepared by rubbing the 
latex in palm of hand, during October, 1901." 
(6). " 1 ball prepared by rubbing in palm of hand 
after the greater part of the water had been 
driven ofif by slow heating for two hours, on 2oth 
October, 1901." 
(c) " Thin layers prepared by evaporation at 
ordinary temperature of air. Exposed to air for 
over three months." 
Description of the samples. 
(a) The balls ranged from 1 to 2 inches in 
diameter and had a smooth shining surface ; 
externally the colour varied from yellowish-white 
to brown, but internally the freshly broken surface 
was milk-white, turning yellowish-white on 
exposure to the air ; the fracture was smooth and 
the balls were quite free from foreign vegetable 
matter ; when whole they had no odour, but when 
freshly broken a slight sour smell was noticed. 
The balls were fairly hard and withstood a sharp 
blow without fracture, but small pieces were 
ratber friable and showed no toughness ; the 
material was easily reduced to coarse powder in a 
mortar. On holding a piece in the hand it soft- 
ened so that it could be moulded, and on immer- 
sion in hot water it became very sticky and 
plastic ; afcer the latter treatment the mass took 
some time to harden, and at the end of two 
days it was still fairly flexible. 
(b) The ball was about 2 inches in diameter and 
was almost identical in appearance and properties 
with sample (a). The only dififerences noticed were 
that on standing exposed to the air it developed 
a slight reddish tinge, which was afterwards lost 
as it gradually darkened, and that after softening 
in water it took longer to harden. 
(c) This was an aggregated mass formed of 
thin plates of the gutta which had adhered to- 
gether ; these were dark brown in colour externally 
but nearly white within. The plates were brittle, 
breaking easily with a smooth fracture, but 
when held in the hand they softened so that they 
could be bent without breaking, and finally eould 
be moulded in the fingers. In other respects it 
resembled sample (a), but took longer to harden 
after immersion in hot water. 
Chemical Examination. —The three samples u 
received had the following composition — 
a 
b 
« 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
Moisture 
96 
5-0 
1-3 
Resin 
62-3 
68 0 
Qntta ? 
24-6 
250 
26-1 
Dirt 
3-5 
14 
5-e 
Ash (included in 
dirt) 
1-05 
0-65 
For pa^rpoaes ot ooinparisoa the parcautigjaa o£ 
