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453 
oil, which renders it drying, a quality which the ge¬ 
nuine oil does not pofTefs. In countries that produce 
it, it is ufed for food, as butter is with us; that of the 
inferior kinds is burnt in lamps, or employed in the ma¬ 
nufacture of foaps, which are of a finer quality than thofe 
that are compofed of animal oils. The belt oil is made in 
Provence; but that which we receive in this country is 
Drought from Lucca and Florence. It is imported in jars, 
half-jars, and balf-chefts, which are wooden packages con¬ 
taining fiafks. 
Olive-oil is ufed in medicine, internally, as a demulcent 
in catarrh and other pulmonary affections, diffufed in 
water by means of mucilage; and it is alfo given, in large 
quantities, to mitigate the aCtion of acricl/ubftances, as 
fome poifons, taken into the ftomach; and in cafes of 
worms, applied externally, it is a very ufeful relaxant, and, 
inftead of flopping up the cutaneous exhalants, appears 
to promote the excretion of fweat, on which account it is 
beneficially employed in friCtions at the commencement of 
the plague. The body is ordered to be very brifkly rubbed 
all over with a clean fponge dipped in warm olive-oil; and 
the operation is repeated once a-day until fymptoms of 
recovery appear. Mr. Jackfon relates, that the coolies, 
who are employed in the oil-ftores at Tunis, fmear them- 
lelves all over with oil, and are feldom affiiCted with the 
plague, when it rages in that city. An experiment has 
been lately made, (1819,) of the efficacy of oil as an in¬ 
ternal remedy againft the plague : out of 300 individuals, 
already infefted, who reforted to this Ample remedy, 
only 12 died. The trial was made at the inftance of M. 
Coiaco, the Fortuguefe conful at Laracha in Morocco. 
It appears, by the Catalogue of the Botanic Garden at 
Oxford, that it was cultivated there in 1648. Several 
olive-trees were planted againft a warm wall at Camden- 
hotife, near Kenfington, which fucceeded very well till 
their tops advanced above the wall ; after which, they 
were generally cut down to the top of the wall in winter. 
Thebe in 1719 produced a good number of fruit, which 
grew fo large as to be fit for pickling; but after that time 
their fruit feldom grew to any fize. With a little protec¬ 
tion in fevere frolr, the olive-tree may be maintained 
againft a wall, in the latitude of London ; but in Devon- 
fl:ire there are fome of thefe trees which have grown in 
the open air many years, and are feldom injured by froft, 
but the: r'fu turners are not warm enough to bring the fruit 
to maturity. 
The olive was, by the ancient s, confidered as a maritime 
tree, ar.d they fuppofed it would not thrive at any diftance 
from the fea ; but, by experience, we find it will fucceed 
very well in any country, where the air is of a proper 
.temperature, though it is found to bear the fpray of the 
fea better than molt other trees. 
The varieties of this tree are numerous, as in molt ve¬ 
getables that have much attracted the attention of man¬ 
kind. Several diftinCtions from the form of the leaves 
have been recited in the enumeration of the fpecies ; 
others are taken from the lhape, fize, and colour, of the 
fruit. Virgil enumerafes only three varieties —“ Orchites, 
et radii, et amara paufia bacca.” The full bears a final! 
round fruit, called olivola by Crefalpinus, and alivqjlre by 
Matthioius. The radius is a long olive, fo called from its 
fimilitucie to a weaver’s fnuttie. The pavjia is called bit¬ 
ter, becaufe it was gathered unripe;’and then it lias a 
very auftere tafte. Cato mentions eight, and Columella 
ten, varieties of olives, among which thefe three of Virgil 
are enumerated. Many more are recited by Pliny and 
other authors. It is remarkable that Matthiohis informs 
us there were only three forts known in his time inTufcany. 
Some of the varieties noted at the head of this article 
might rather perhaps be confidered as fpecies, fince in 
France, Italy, and Spain, there are many varieties or fub- 
varieties (as we mult now call them) of thefe. Thus, in Lan¬ 
guedoc, they chiefly propagate what they call the coi tncau, 
the ampoulan, and the inoureau-, in Provence they have 
Vol. XVII. No. 1190. 
thefmall oblong, the oblong dark-green, the fmall roundifh 
white, or aglandan, the large flelhy or royal, the large 
roundifh, and the fmall round reddifh-black, olive. In 
Spain they have feveral varieties of their large fruit. In 
Italy, the fmall Lucca olive is much efteemed ; and in the 
fouthern provinces of the kingdom of Naples, where this 
tree is much cultivated, they have, 1. The Salentine olive, 
called by the peafants ogliarola. 1. Faule, which bears a 
fmall olive,-kept for eating. 3. Cellina, J'curanefe, or cafcirt, 
yielding lefs oil than the firft in the proportion of two to 
three; but the tree grows to a greater fize, refills weather 
better, and is more fruitful. 4. A wild fort; the fruit of 
which grows white as it ripens ; the ancients fpeak of 
fuch a fort; but this is not cultivated. 
■1. Olea Capenlis, the Cape olive: leaves ovate, quite 
entire; racemes panicle-fhaped, divaricate. Of this there 
are two varieties. 
on. O. coriacea, the leathery-leaved : leaves ovate-ob¬ 
long, rigid, flat; petioles red. 
/ 3 . O. undulata, the wave-leaved: leaves elliptical, 
waved ; petioles green. 
The Cape olive is a fmall tree, or ratherlhrub,not branch¬ 
ing much. Trunk ftraight, with many joints; bark fub- 
hirfute, blackifh brown, with alh-coloured dots ami lines. 
Leaves commonly entire, denfe, and rigid, always paler 
underneath, with oblique fmooth veins, lefs confpicuous 
underneath than above. From the axils, and at the end 
of the branches, the flow’ers come out in the racemes in 
June and July; fometimes thinly dilpofed, but fometimes 
lo numerous that the racemes hang down ; the corolla is 
white, and fmall. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 
Cultivated in 1731 by James Sherard, M. D. Dillenius 
fpeaks of the plant at Eltham as being, then, ten or eleven 
years old. 
3. Olea Americana, the American olive : leaves lan¬ 
ceolate-elliptic quite entire, racemes narrowed, all the 
braCtes permanent connate fmall. Racemes fhort, axil¬ 
lary, brachiate, with oppofite pedicels. Segments of the 
corolla revolute. Style fo fhort as to be fcarceiy any. 
Stigma bifid. Drupe globular, even, handfome. Nut 
obovate, fubftriated. In this fpecies there are male and 
female flowers on the fame plant with the hermaphrodites. 
Native of Carolina and Florida. Cultivated in 1758 by 
Mr. Miller: flowers in June. 
4. Olea cernua, the nodding-flowered olive : leaves 
oblong lanceolate very blunt, racemes axillary Ample, 
flowers drooping. Flowers twice as large as in the com¬ 
mon fort. Native of Madagafcar, where it was found by 
Thouin. 
5. Olea apetala, the apetalous olive: leaves elliptic; 
flowers in racemes, apetalous. Native of New Zealand. 
6. Olea excelfa, the laurel-leaved olive: leaves elliptic, 
acute ; braCtes perfoliate, the lovvelt cup-fhaped, perma? 
nent; the upper ones leafy, large, deciduous. Flowers 
twice as large as thofe of the common olive. Native of 
Madeira, where it was found by Mr. Francis Maflon, and 
introduced in 1784. 
7. Olea fragrans, the fvveet-feented olive, or quai-fa : 
leaves lanceolate, ferrate; peduncles lateral, aggregate, 
one-flowered. This is a large tree. Leaves decufi'ated, ob¬ 
long, (harp, a little bent back at the edge, parallel-nerved, 
reticulated, fmooth, deep-green above, paler underneath, 
fpreading, frequent on the branchlets, a finger’s length. 
Flowers aggregate, in umbels, about fix or eight together. 
Calyx very fmall, obfcurely four-toothed, whitifli, iinooth ; 
corolla wheel-fliaped, yellowilh white. 
Loureiro, taking this tree to be of a different genus 
from the olive, named it Ofmanthus, from the remarkable 
fweetnefs of the flower. He never could find any fruit, 
and fuppofed the flowers to be always abortive. He de- 
feribes it as an upright (hrub, about leven feet in height, 
with afeending branches, fometimes climbing. Leaves 
curved inwards, fmooth, oppofite, on fhort petioles. 
Flowers pale, fmall, on fhort, fubfaftigiate, axillary, and 
5 Z terminating, 
