280 
Original Communications. 
six drops were administered to a criminal, and caused an im- 
mediate sensation of almost intolerable agony in the stomach, 
followed by convulsions w r hich terminated by death in six 
minutes. On dissection no alterations were observable, except 
that the stomach was contracted to half its natural size. 
This poisonous principle is volatile, and is destroyed by the 
action of fire, hence the cassava made from the manioc may 
be eaten with impunity. The root is the basis of several kinds 
of fermented liquors, and an excellent condiment for season- 
ing meat, called Gabion, or Capion, is prepared from the juice. 
The leaves beaten and then boiled form a substitute for 
spinach, and the fresh root forms a good application to un- 
healthy ulcers. 
Spix and Martius state that an acre of ground planted with 
manioc yields a greater proportion of food than six acres 
planted with the best wheat. In Brazil, after burning the 
felled trees, the land is planted with cuttings of the Janipha. 
In eighteen or twenty months, during which time the farmer- 
endeavours to check the upward growth of the plant, by nip- 
ping off the leading shoots ; the roots attain their full size. 
After three successive crops the land becomes exhausted and 
is abandoned. 
Jamaica Tapioca is made, according to Lunan, (Hort. 
Jam.) from the sweet cassava, by grating the roots, washing 
and infusing in water, and evaporating the liquid so as to 
obtain a sediment like starch, which is thoroughly dried in 
the sun. 
Sandal Wood. — The true sandal wood is furnished by the 
Santalum album, a native of various parts of India, but more 
especially of the mountains of the Malabar coast. That from 
the Sandwich Islands, and which forms so important an article 
of trade, is derived from a different species of the same genus, 
the 8. freyc in e tia n um. In New Holland five other species 
have been discovered, of which but little is known beyond 
their botanical characters. 
The red sandal wood, or as it is generally called, red 
saunders, is the product of the Pterocarpus santalinus, and not 
