1821.] Report of Chemistry and Experimental Philosophy • 
this mission.) M. Inglesi has been de¬ 
puted to solicit in Europe, the means of 
further propagating Christianity among 
the Indians, and to engage other reli¬ 
gious characters to join them in the dis 
charge of their sacred duties. 
WEST INDIES. 
A letter from M. Plee, dated Fort 
Royal, Martinique, May 31,1820, says : 
44 I am pursuing my tour through all 
the different parts of the island, and 
constantly a pedestiian, although the 
heat (in April and May) is excessive. 
The thermometer of Reaumur is at 21o 
at five in the morning; at 26°, 27 ' and 
but seldom at 2S°at noon. It is never 
below 20° throughout the night. On 
the peaks of theCarbet, the Vauquelin, 
the Hot Springs, St. Pierre, &c. not 
higher than 14°, 15?, 16°. I have not 
been able to meet with the viper known 
by the name of fer de lance , though I 
have traversed considerable distances, 
at all hours of day and night. This 
reptile, denounced by an author of ce¬ 
lebrity as the most dangerous of any 
in our sugar islands, is not so common 
as lias been reported, in the paths and 
highroads of Martinique. Not an in¬ 
dividual is to be found in Guadaloupe. 
This serpent chiefly haunts the cane 
plantations, and especially where the rats 
are in the greatest numbers. No planter 
is without his sovereign remedy against 
the bite of this animal, which shews 
that the wounds it inflicts are not so 
fatal as is believed. Besides the reme¬ 
dies which the heads of families are in 
possession of, there are negro conjurors, 
oi a sort of old men sorcerers, that are 
looked up to with a confidence almost 
unlimited by the blacks, and even by 
many of the whites; and it must be 
admitted that very rarely a negro dies 
under their treatment, unless, as is fre¬ 
quently the case, with hydrophobes, 
terror has so overpowered the senses of 
the patient that no remedy can reach 
the true seat of affliction. More recent 
news from this naturalist, dated July 
31, report his having expedited for the 
Jardin du Roi , a large collection of ob¬ 
jects in natural history, intrusted to 
the care of his younger brother, who 
is obliged to return to France, the cli- 
2 S3 
mate not agreeing with his constitution* 
The yellow fever had not then com¬ 
menced its ravages; some sailors had 
died, but all the rest composing a part of 
the expedition, were in good health. 
Population of Demerary and Esse- 
quibo. Male African Slaves 24,526. 
Female do. 14,385. Male Creole Slaves 
16,458. Female do. 17,556. Other 
colonists, males 2005. Females 1,999. 
Births in the three last years 4,817* 
Augmented population since 1817, 763 
males and 977 females. 12 slaves from 
90 to 100 years of age. and three from 
100 to 110. 
Don Manuel S. Badia, a missionary 
residing some time in St. Lucia, has 
published the discovery of a remedy 
for the bite of serpents, and sting of 
scorpions, which he had learned from 
the Indians of Venezuela and Santa Fe. 
Eight years trial on different inhabi¬ 
tants of the colony leaves no room to 
doubt of its efficacy. It is required to 
collect grains of Gombre perfumed with 
musk; these to be dried and reduced 
to an impalpable powder; then to be 
sifted or bolted, and put in a bottle, to 
fill one third of it, which is afterwards 
to be filled up with rum (tafia). If an 
individual or animal has been bit or 
stung, the bottle to be well shaken, and 
when the liquor is thoroughly tinctured 
with the grosser substance, the patient 
to swallow a glassfull. Scarifications 
to be made in the place bitten; the same 
to be rubbed slightly with a cloth well 
soaked in the liquid, which is then to 
be laid over the wound, and as it dries, 
to be wetted four or five times more. 
Half an hour after the first dressing, 
a second glass of the liquor to befaken 
(internally). If some time has elapsed 
after the bite, and the vomiting has 
commenced, the patient to keep drink¬ 
ing, almost incessantly, till the vomit¬ 
ing be stopped. This remedy has not 
failed in a single instance. Two gen 
tlemen, Messrs. Bernard and Dianet, of 
the Old Fort, and Laborie, St. Lucia, 
have themselves wrought more than 
forty cures. Every negro may easily 
carry about with him this preparation 
in a vial, and keep it in a state of pre¬ 
servation. 
REPORT OF CIIEMISTRY-'AND EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY. 
I N the West India Colonies different 
articles of iron ware soon get spoiled 
and rusty, from the humid climate of the 
Torrid Zone. Among other improvements 
to accelerate the progress of rural and 
manufacturing industry, the following is 
given as an effectual preservative from 
rust and all oxidation, and prepared at a 
trifling expence A very simple process 
will suffice for instruments, utensils, &c 
, of 
