ANA 
ANA 
nered ; fruit vate, oblique, four-celled, re- 
sembling that of the laurel ; the nucleus in- 
volved in a brittle covering, four-celled, 
with four stones wrapped up in a viscid red 
ulp, having a balsamic smell and taste, 
ardening into a grey rosin, and used for 
burning as a perfume. The whole tree 
is sweet-scented, and yields a very odo- 
riferous balsam from the wounded trunk or 
branches, which is used in the dysehtery ; 
the dose is one dram in red wine ; it is also 
used in houses and churches for burning as 
a perfume. It grows in the woods of 
Guiana, and by the sea-shore ; flowering and 
fruiting in September. A. balsamifera, 
sweet amyris, white candle-wood, or rose- 
wood, .with leaves two-paired. This grows 
to a considerable size, and is one of the 
most valuable trees in the island of Jamaica ; 
the wood is white, and of a curled grain 
when young, but grows of a dirty, clouded 
ash colour with age, bearing a fine polish, 
and having a pleasant smell ; it is heavy, 
and much esteemed among cabinet-makers. 
All the parts of this tree are full of warm, 
aromatic particles, and may be used in 
baths and fomentations; the berries are 
oblong, and have the taste of the balsam 
copaiba. An infusion of the leaves has 
a pleasant flavour, is highly cephalic, 
strengthens the nerves, and is particulai’ly 
restorative to weak eyes. In Jamaica there 
are several species of amyris, the leaves and 
bark of which yield a fine balsamic juice ; 
and if the body were tapped at the proper 
season, a thick liquor would transude, re- 
sembling that of the Gilead balsam, to 
which the taste of the bark and wood of the 
smaller branches bears a very exact rela- 
tion. Dr. Wright apprehends that this 
wood, by distillation, would yield a per- 
fume equal to the oleum rhodii, 
ANA, among physicians, denotes an equal 
quantity of the ingredieifts which immedi- 
ately precede it in prescriptions : it is writ- 
ten by abbreviation a or a a ; thus, Jfc thur. 
myrth. alum , a a, .9 j : that is, take frankin- 
cense, myrrh, and alum, each a scruple. 
Ana, in matters of literature, a Latin ter- 
mination added to the titles of several books 
in other languages, 
They are collections of the conversation 
and memorable sayings of men of wit and 
learning ; the Scaligeriana was the first book 
that appeared with a title in ana, and was 
afterwards followed by the Perroniana, 
Thuana, Naudoeana, Menagiana, and even 
by Arlequiniana, in ridicule of all books in 
Una. The Mepagiana are accounted the best. 
Ana, among occult philosophers, a term 
used to denote the human -mind ; from 
whence some will have anasapta, a daemon 
invoked by sick persons, to be derived. 
ANABASIS, in botany, a genus of the 
Pentandria Digynia class and order : essen. 
char. ; calyx, three-leaved ; cor. five-petal 
led ; berry one-seeded, surrounded by a 
calyx : there are four species. 
ANACARDIUM, in botany, acajou, a 
genus of the Enneandria Monogynia class 
and order; its characters are, that it has 
hermaphrodite flowers, and male flowers, 
either mixed with the hermaphrodites, or on 
a distinct tree. The calyx of the former is 
a perianthium, five-leaved, leaflets ovate, 
concave, coloured, erect, and deciduous ; 
the corolla has five petals, lanceolate, acute, 
three times as long as the calyx, upright at 
bottom, reflex at the end ; the stamina have 
ten filaments, united at the base and up- 
right, nine of them capillary, shorter than 
the calyx ; the pistillum has a germ, kidney- 
shaped, obliquely emarginate in front, style 
subulate, bent in, the length of the corolla ; 
stigma small, roundish, depressed, and con- 
cave: no pericarpium ; receptacle fleshy, 
very large and obovate; the seed a nut, kid- 
ney-shaped, large at the top of the recep- 
tacle, with a thick shell, cellular within, and 
abounding in oil. The calyx, corolla, and 
stamina, of the male flowers, as in the her- 
maphradites; the pistillum has either no 
germ, or one that is abortive. There is one 
species, viz. A. occidentale, eashew-nut, 
cassu or acajou. The cashew is an elegant 
tree, 12 or 16 feet high, spreading much as 
it rises, and beginning to branch at the 
height of five feet, according to Browne; 
but Long affirms that in good soils it spreads 
to the size of a walnut tree, which it resem- 
bles in the shape and smell of the leaves : 
the trunk seldom exceeds half a foot in 
diameter ; the leaves are coriaceous, subo- 
vate, shining, entire, petioled, and scattered 
alternately ; and terminating, containing 
many small; sweet-smelling flowers, on an 
oblong receptacle, scarcely distinguishable 
from the peduncle; the corolla red, with 
commonly 10 stamens, one of which has no 
anther, but it has frequently eight, or only 
seven, all fertile ; and there are sometimes 
female flowers entirely destitute of stamens. 
The fruit has an agreeable subacid flavour, 
in some degree restringent; in some of a 
yellow, and in others of a red colour, which 
difference may be probably owing to the 
spil or culture. The juice of the fruit, fer- 
mented, affords a pleasant wine; and dis- 
