S99 
Natural History, — Botany, 
colour. The whole substance of the flower is not less than half 
an inch thick, and of a firm fleshy consistence. It soon after 
expansion begins to give out a smell of decaying animal matter. 
Sir T, S, Raffles sent specimens of the plant to England in 1818. 
In the following year, numerous additional specimens were pro- 
cured from various parts of the country, and an opportunity of- 
fered of more minute examination, the particulars of which are 
given in Dr Jack’s description, already referred to. The greater 
part of these specimens were transmitted to England, together 
with the observations made on the living plants. Some time after 
their being sent off, as Dr Jack informs us, a letter was received 
from Sir Joseph Banks, acknowledging the receipt of the first 
specimens, which had all proved to be males, and suggesting the 
probability of the plant being parasitic, a conjecture which had 
already been ascertained to be correct, by investigations on the 
spot. Mr Brown, in the last volume of the Linnean Transacr 
tions, has published a classical description of this gigantic flower, 
accompanied with splendid coloured figures. 
54 Camphor-Tree^ Dryohalanops camphora . — Specimens of 
this tree in flower (Dr Jack observes) were sent by Mr Prince 
from Tapanooly to Sir T. S. Raffles in 1819. In Sumatra, the 
camphor-trees are confined to the country of the Battas, which 
extends about a degree and a half to the north of the Equator. 
They are also found in Borneo, in nearly the same parallel of 
latitude ; and Dr Jack thinks there are some in the neighbour- 
hood of Singapore a^d Johore. This valuable tree, Dr Jack 
informs us, is not known to exist in any other part of the world, 
and on this account, as well as the difficulty of obtaining its pro- 
duce, this kind of camphor bears a very high price. It is all 
carried to China, where it sells for about twelve times as much 
as t)rat of Japan. The camphor is found in a concrete state, ia 
cavities and fissures in the heart of the tree. In order to ob.. 
tain it, the tree is felled and split into lengths, to allow of the 
extraction of the crystallised masses. The same trees afford 
both the concrete substance and an oil, which is supposed to be 
the .first stage of the formation of the camphor. The Sumatran 
camphor is little known in Europe, and it would perhaps. Dr 
Jack observes, deserve examination, to ascerUin how far its pro- 
