[ 8 74 - 3 
Miller’s letter, that he has brought any proof to lef- 
fen the merit of the Abbe Mazeas and the Abbe 
Sauvage’s difcoveries : and the ufe I would propofe 
to you from the remarks I have made, is, that, as 
our Premium Society for the encouragement of Arts 
and Sciences have a fcheme on foot to promote the 
growth of many really ufeful vegetable productions, 
which are at prelent brought to us, at a great expence, 
from Spain, France, Italy, the Levant, Africa, and 
the Ealt-Indies ; I think this Anacardium orientale, 
or Avicennia of Linnaeus, claims a place among the 
reft; efpecially, when we confider of what ufe and 
importance it is in the two great empires of China 
and Japan, befides all the other parts of India. The 
chief difficulty will be the preserving its vegetative 
quality during two fo long voyages ; but by many 
contrivances 1 am perfuaded it will at laft be effected ; 
however the very attempt is laudable. 
Since I wrote the above 1 have received a fpeci- 
men of the gum of the Cafhew-nut tree, and find it 
diftolves in the mouth like gum arabic. It is of 
the colour of Myrrh ; but very brittle, fhining, and 
clear. I have alfo procured a fpecimen of the Varnifti 
of China from Mr. Marges, a great dealer in China 
commodities, juft as it was imported from thence : 
this feems to anfwer the defeription of the Siam 
Varnifti. I have made fome experiments on it, and 
find it does not diftolve by being put either into 
water or fpirits of wine. 
And further, Dr. Sibthorp, profeftor of botany at 
Oxford, informs me in a letter I received lately 
from him, that they have no fpecimen of the Sitz, 
or true Varnifh-tree of Japan 4 in the Sherardian col- 
feCUon, 
