THE PRINCIPLES OP BOTANY. 
471 
fact, the receptacle of Dorstenia would be a fig were its sides 
a little more enclosed, whilst the fig is a receptacle of the 
Dorstenia, with flowers in the interior of the so-called 
fruit. 
Figs as a fruit are well known. In the south of Eng¬ 
land they usually ripen in the open air, under a warm wall, 
and in the vernacular of Dorset are known as “ dofigs,” 
which, perhaps, is but a corruption of out-o’-door figs. 
Figs still hold the position in domestic medicine that they 
did in the days of Hezekiah, as much as six centuries before 
the Christian era: 
“ For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs and 
lay it for a plaster upon a boil, and he shall recover” 
(Isaiah xxxviii, 21). 
And again: 
“And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs; and they took 
and laid it on the boil, and he recovered” (2 Kings 
xx,7). 
Thus, it is used at the present day as a discutient for boils, 
and, like roasted onion, for ear-ache, gum-boils, &c. 
In the e Materia Medica’ of Pereira figs are described as 
“ nutritive, emollient, demulcent, and laxative. In a fresh 
state they are both agreeable and wholesome; when dried, 
as we receive them, they readily disorder the stomach and 
bowels, and occasion flatulence, griping, and mild diarrhoea.” 
It is, doubtless, on these conditions that figs are made to 
form part of the Confectio Senna of the London Phar¬ 
macopoeia. 
But whatever medicinal properties figs possess, we may 
conclude they must be of the mildest, when this fruit, where 
it abounds, is a common article of food, and even with our¬ 
selves preserved figs are a most welcome and wholesome 
addition to the winter dessert. 
We have only now, in completion of this alliance, to notice 
the Artocarpace^e, Artocarpuds , and Platanace^e, Planes . 
These fortunately present little difficulties, and as they 
possess no extraordinary features, will not long detain us in 
their description. 
The Artocarpads still afford that milky juice so charac¬ 
teristic of the alliance as well exhibited in the A. incisa , or 
bread-fruit tree of the tropics. But while the bread-fruit is 
wholesome from a large quantity of starch in its fruit, some 
of the species are considered as poisonous ; of these the 
upas-tree of Java has been much commented upon. Pro¬ 
fessor Lindley says of it:—The venom of the Antjar poison 
(A?itiaris toxicaria) is due to the presence of that most 
