ii8  Matico.  {''"■Jar:;^75""' 
binations  of  vanilla  and  deer  tongue,  with  a  view  to  its  use  as  a  flavor,, 
but  each  of  them  was  unsatisfactory.  The  odor  aiid  taste  of  coumarin 
appear  to  be  so  much  stronger  and  so  much  more  persistent  than  that 
of  vanilla,  that  it  is  only  spoiling  good  vanilla  to  add  tonka  or  deer 
tongue  to  it. 
Deer  tongue  is  specially  adapted  to  imitating  the  odor  of  new-mown 
hay,  as  the  perfume  of  this  also  resides  in  the  coumarin  contained  in 
Anthoxanthum  odoratuj?!^  Lin.,  or  sweet-scented  vernal  grass. 
MATICO* 
As  to  what  plant  is  the  real  original  "  Matico,  there  seems  some 
doubt.  There  are  at  least  "two  Richards  in  the  field,"  and  each  has 
some  claim  to  the  title.  According  to  Flartweg,  ¥/hose  remarks  are 
quoted  in  a  recent  number  of  the  ''Pharmaceutical  Journal,"  "Matico 
is  the  vernacular  name  applied  by  the  inhabitants  of  Quito  to  Eupato- 
rium  glutinosum^  or  the  '  chessalonga '  in  the  Quichua  language.  It 
forms  a  shrub  three  to  five  feet  high,  which  is  common  in  the  higher 
parts  of  the  Quitinian  Andes,  where  its  properties  were  discovered 
some  years  back  by  a  soldier  called  Mateo,  better  known  under  his 
nickname  Matico  (little  Matthew),  who,  being  wounded  in  action,, 
applied  accidentally  the  leaves  of  some  shrub  to  his  wound,  which  had 
the  immediate  effect  of  stopping  the  bleeding.  This  shrub  happened 
to  be  the  Chessalonga,  which  has  since  been  called,  in  honor  of  the 
discoverer,  Matico.  That  it  is  the  true  Matico  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Quito  and  Riobamba,  I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt  ;  both  the  leaves 
and  specimens  have  been  gathered  by  myself,  and  upon  comparing  the 
latter  with  Kunth's  description  I  found  them  to  agree  exactly  with 
his  Eupatorhnn  glutinosum.''^ 
This  origin  of  the  name  Matico,  it  may  be  remarked  par  parenthhey 
reminds  us  of  that  of  the  genus  Quassia,  which  commemorates  a  negro 
slave  named  Quassy,  who  first  discovered  its  good  qualities  as  a  febri- 
fuge, and  employed  its  bark  and  wood  as  a  secret  remedy  against  the 
malignant  endemic  fevers  which  were  so  frequent  in  Surinam.  He 
was  at  last  induced  to  part  with  his  secret  for  a  considerable  sum,  by 
a  Swede  named  Rolander,  by  whom,  in  1756,  the  wood  was  first 
brought  to  Europe.  This  perpetuation  of  the  name  of  the  discoverer 
in  association  with  the  plant  connected  with  him  is  common  enough 
From  the  '*  Gardeners'  Chronicle.'' 
