290 
ON  THE  ORIGIN  OF  BAY  RUM. 
leaves,  or  showy  and  sweet  scented  flowers,  have  the  same  dis. 
tinction  conferred  upon  them.  From  the  English  name, 
therefore,  no  clue  can  be  had  as  to  the  origin  of  bay  rum. 
A  short  time  ago,  Mr.  F.  L.  John,  of  this  city,  handed  me  a 
leaf,  which  had  been  brought  to  this  country  in  1854  by  a  cap- 
tain trading  with  the  West  Indies,  and  who  asserted  it  to  be 
from  the  same  plant  from  which  bay  rum  is  obtained.  This  as- 
sertion is  verified  by  its  odor  and  taste,  which  are  identical  with 
that  of  the  commercial  spirit.  The  leaf  is  so  different  in  its 
character  from  our  indigenous  Lauracese,  like  Sassafras  oflScinale 
and  Benzoin  odoriferum,  and  from  Laurus  nobilis,  that  Mr.  John 
supposed  it  to  be  the  leaf  of  a  Viburnum.  The  leaves  of  this 
genus  of  Caprifoliacese,  however,  are  never  coriaceous,  but  de- 
ciduous and  mostly  serrate  or  toothed,  or  even  lobed ;  their 
venation  is  also  very  different  from  that  of  the  leaf  in  question. 
Having  occasion  to  examine  the  herbarium  at  the  Philadel- 
phia Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  I  found  among  the  Laura- 
cese  a  twig  without  flowers  or  fruit,  labelled  Laurus  ?,  and 
with  the  remark  that  it  had  been  collected  in  the  island  of  St. 
Croix  by  the  late  Dr.  GriflBth,  and  that  it  was  the  plant  from 
which  bay  rum  is  obtained.  Subsequently,  Professor  Dr. 
Bridges  called  my  attention  to  the  circumstance  that  the  leaves 
are  perforated  with  numerous  pellucid  dots,  which  exclude  the 
plant  from  the  natural  order  Lauracese,  and  he  suggested  that 
it  was  most  likely  a  member  of  the  Myrtaceae,  and  probably 
Myrcia  acris,  De  C. 
The  twig  is  of  a  cinereous  to  yellowish  brown  color,  covered 
with  granular  spots,  mostly  of  a  brown  color ;  it  is  irregularly 
quadrangular,  the  sides  being  narrowest  where  the  opposite  pe- 
tioles are  attached,  and  gradually  becoming  broader  above  and 
below  to  the  next  pairs  of  leaves  which  grow  from  the  sides  al- 
ternating with  the  former,  thus  giving  to  the  twig  a  somewhat 
twisted  appearance.  The  petioles  are  about  J  inch  in  length, 
granularly  dotted,  and  with  a  groove  on  the  upper  side,  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  groove  of  the  midrib  ;  they  rise  from  the  branch 
at  an  angle  of  45  to  50^  :  a  transverse  section  exhibits  a  hard, 
light  colored,  ligneous  crescent,  surrounded  by  a  thick  brown 
spongy  layer,  covered  by  the  epidermis,  while  the  centre  of  the 
slender  branchlet  is  occupied  by  a  brown  porous  pith,  covered 
