[ i 62 ] 
and he was lefs cautious of wounding them ; for he 
fays, the Carolina Toxicodendron was fo fmall, that 
he could only take off a fingle leaf^ otherwife he be- 
lieves the flains would have been equal. 
As the ufe of this dye is at prefent but little 
known in Europe, this may appear as a new dif- 
covery j but whoever will give themfelves the trouble 
to turn to the books, in which this plant is defcribed, 
will find, that this American Toxicodendron is the 
fame fpecies of plant, from which the inhabitants of 
Japan procure the varnifli, with which they ftain all 
their utenfils; and the Calicuts are alfo painted with 
the juice of this fhrub. 
Tliat this communication of the Abbe Mazeas. 
may not appear in the Tranfadlions of the Royal So- 
ciety as a new difcovery, I fliall beg leave to men- 
tion a brief account of what has been written upon 
this fubjecl.^ 
Dodtor Kaempfer, in his Fafcicuhis Anicenitatiim 
exoticarum^ has given a figure and defcription of 
this plant, which are lo accurate, as to leave no doubt 
ot its being the fame plant as the Carolina Toxico- 
dendron. His book was printed at Lemgow, in 1712. 
His title of the plant is Arbor vernacifera hgitimay 
folio pinnato juglandis^ jruBii racemofo ciceris facie. 
And by the inhabitants of Japan it is called Sitz vel 
Sitz dfjuy as alfo Urm feu Urus no ki. In the fame 
book there is a figure and defcription of the wild var- 
nifli-tree,which he Arbor vernacifera fpuria Jyl- 
'cefris anguftifolia ; and the inhabitants, Fafi no ki ; 
but the varnifli, which comes from this tree, is of little 
cfteem. 
Here 
