ternate, as respects their union with the costa. The two uppermost pairs of leaves are small and closely convoluted, while the plant is in flower. After the florescence is past, they are developed to the full size of the others, or become rather broader at their middle, and assume a brownish purple colour. I have sometimes observed the whole plant of this hue, though in general it is confined to the upper portion. The flowers are axilliary, sessile, and arranged in triplets round the stem, appearing whorled. The corolla is reddish purple above, striated below with lake, blended into white, and every where covered with a dense pubescence. It is tubular, curved and widest at the top, where it is divided into five auriculated segments or lobes; the lacinia being cordate and closed on each other. The lower end of the tube terminates in an abrupt gibbosity, which is articulated with the germ. The stamens are five in number, inclosed within the corolla, and alternate with the lobes or lacinia. The pistil is somewhat longer than the stamens, and appears conspicuously above the corolla. Stigma oblong. The calix is composed of five linear segments obscurely ciliated on their margins, of a dark purplish colour, and half an inch long. The germ to which they are articulated, is beneath; and garnished with a single green bract, longer and broader than the calix leaves, and proceeding from its base. The berries succeed to the flowers, generally in the number of six to each axil; sometimes there are but three, but occasionally nine, in luxuriant plants. They are ovate, of a dark purple colour, with three divisions, and contain three hard seeds. They ripen in September.

This plant is somewhat rare, though I have seen it on the rocky limestone hills a little beyond the Maryland fine, on the York and Baltimore road, in great quantities. It is also very frequent in the hilly woods bordering the Conestogo Creek, near Lancaster in Pennsylvania; and remarkably abundant in a thicket about one mile from the town of Lancaster, on the seat of Charles Smith, Esq. In the vicinity of Philadelphia it is very rare. Indeed I have only found it in a wild state, on the Schuylkill, near Lemon-hill. It delights in rich limestone soil, on rocky or stony ground, preferring the shade; but is often found in different situations. Its range is, from the northernmost state of New-England to Carolina; and probably further south. Flowers in June.

Medical Properties.-Triosteum perfoliatum is a mild cathartic, and it is for this virtue that the plant is here noticed. I am aware that Shoepf speaks of it as an emetic only, and alludes to its use in intermittent fevers and pleurisy. One of the common vulgar names also, Bastard Ipecacuanha, indicates the well-known emetic power which it unquestionably possesses. But it is only in large doses that vomiting is produced. In the quantity of twenty or thirty grains it is a good cathartic. It has been said on some occasions to operate as a diuretic;* but pro fessor Barton who observed this effect, justly remarks that this may have been only an accidental circumstance, rhubarb having been known by C. Piso, to produce the same effect. The part of the plant used for medical purposes, is the cortex, or bark of the root. When the root is dry, it is brittle, and is pulverised easily. Perhaps it is not necessary to separate the bark from the ligneous part; for in all likelihood the whole root is endued with the same medicinal property. The autumn is the proper time to collect the plant for use.

*Barton's "Collections."

Ibid.

Economical Use.-I learned from the late Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg, that the dried and toasted berries of this plant, were considered by some of the Germans of Lancaster county, as an excellent substitute for coffee, when prepared in the same way. Hence the name of wild coffee, by which he informed me it was sometimes known.

TRIOSTEUM PERFOLIATUM.

Fever root.

'This is rather a solitary plant, and though met with in most parts of the United States, it rarely, I believe, occurs in large quantities. About Boston it is found in several places at the borders of woods in rich, shady situations. Its common names are Fever root and Wild ipecac.* Pursh observes, that it is rare; and generally occurs in limestone soils. With us it flowers in June and ripens its fruit in September.

The genus Triosteum is found in the class Pentandria and order Monogynia. Its natural affinities place it among the Aggregate of Linnæus and the Caprifolia of Jussieu. It is chracterised by a monopetalous, five-lobed, unequal corolla; a calyx as long as the corolla; and a berry with three cells and three seeds. The species perfoliatum differs from the rest, having its leaves connate, and its flowers sessile and whorled.

The root of this plant is perennial and subdivided into numerous horizontal branches. The stem is erect, hairy, fistulous, round, from one to four feet high. The leaves are opposite, the pairs crossing each other, connate, ovate, acuminate, entire, rather flat, abruptly contracted at base into a sort of neck, resembling a winged petiole. This portion varies in width, as Michaux has expressed it," foliis latius, angustiusve connatis." In general it is narrow when the plant is in flower, as represented in the figure; and wider when it is in fruit. The flowers are axillary, sessile, five or six in a whorl, the upper ones generally in a single pair. Each axil is furnished with two or three linear bractes. The calix consists of five segments which are spreading, oblong-linear coloured, unequal, persistent, Corolla tubular, curving, of a dull brownish purple, covered with minute hairs, its base gibbous, its border open and divided into five rounded, unequal lobes. Stamens inserted in the tube of the corolla, hairy, with oblong anthers. Germ inferior, roundish; style longer than the corolla; stigma peltate. The fruit is an oval berry of a deep orange yellow,† hairy, somewhat three sided, crowned with the calix, containig three cells and three hard, bony, furrowed seeds, from which the name of the genus is taken.

This plant was made the subject of an interesting communication to the Linnæan society of New England, by Dr. John Randall. The experiments made by him on its medical uses and pharmaceutical prepa

* The quaint appellation of Dr. Tinker's weed, which has been bestowed on this plant, is thus gravely commented on by Poiret. "Ses racines et celles de l'espece précédente passent pour émétiques; le docteur Tinkar est le premier qui les a mises en usage, et qui a fait donner à cette plante par plusieurs habitans de l'Amerique septentrionale le nom d'herbe sauvage du docteur Tinkar."

Pursh observes that the flowers and berries are purple. In all the specimens I have examined, which have not been few in number, the fruit was of a bright orange colour. If Pursh has seen a plant with purple berries, it is probably a different species from the true plant of Linnæus and Dillenius: which had “fructus lutescentes."

rations were numerous, and serve to throw much light on its properties. In trying the solvent powers of water and alcohol, he found that water afforded a much greater quantity of extract than alcohol, and that the spirituous extract was perfectly soluble in water, whence he infers that no resin in a pure state exists in the plant. He discovered no volatile oil by distillation, nor any other principle of activity in water distilled from the plant. He concludes also, that no free acid exists in this vegetable. Of the different parts submitted to examination, the leaves yielded the greatest quantity of soluble matter, but the root afforded that of the greatest activity. By decoction and evoporation with water an ounce of the dried stalks afforded one drachm of extract; an ounce of the dry roots, two drachms and two scruples, and the same quantity of leaves half an ounce. From a similar treatment of equal portions with alcohol, rather more than half the above quantities of extract were obtained.

The sensible qualities of the root were found essentially different from those of the herb. Both of them possess a large share of bitterness, but the root has also a nauseous taste and smell, somewhat approaching to those of ipecacuanha. The medical properties of the Triosteum are those of an emetic and cathartic. In the above dissertation, about thirty cases are detailed, in which different preparations and quantities of the article were given to various persons with a view to their medicinal effects. The general inference to be made from them is, that the bark of the root acts with tolerable certainty as an evacuant upon the alimentary canal, both by emesis and catharsis. When given alone, either in powder or decoction, the instances of its failure were not many, and when combined with calomel, its operation was attended with a certainty, hardly inferior to that of jalap. The aqueous and spirituous extract of the root were likewise efficacious, and nearly in an equal degree. Preparations made from different parts of the herb possessed much less activity, the decoction of the leaves operating only as a diaphoretic, and that of the stalk producing no effect.

The late professor Barton of Philadelphia, in his collections toward a Materia Medica of the United States, speaks of this plant as a mild and good cathartic, sometimes operating as a diuretic and in large doses as an emetic.

My own experience with this plant has not been extensive, yet sufficient to satisfy me of its medicinal power. Where I have administered it, it has generally proved cathartic, a larger dose however being requisite for this purpose, than of jalap or aloes. It has sometimes failed to produce any effect, and I am inclined to believe that its efficacy is much impaired by age. Those who may incline to employ it, will do well to renew their stock annually, and to keep the powder in close stopped phials.

A dose of the bark of the root in powder is twenty or twenty-five grains, and of the extract, a somewhat smaller quantity.

BOTANICAL REFERENCES.

Triosteum perfoliatum, LIN. sp. pl. AITON Hort. Kew, i. 234.-PURSH. i. 162, -Triosteum majus, MICHAUX, Fl. i. 107.-T. floribus verticillatis, sessilibus, GRONOV. 31.-Triosteospermum latiore folio. flore rutilo, DILLENIUS, Elth. t. 283. f. 378.

MEDICAL REFERENCES.

SCHOPF, 23.--BART. Col· 29.

VOL. XI.

ART. II.-Travels in the Interior of America, in the years 1809, 1810, and 1811; including a Description of Upper Louisiana, together with the States of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee, with the Illinois and Western Territories, and containing Remarks and Observations useful to Persons emigrating to those Countries. By John Bradbury, Fellow of the Linnæan Society of London, Corresponding Member of the Liverpool Philosophical Society, and Honorary Member of the Literary and Philosophical Societies, New York, United States, America. Liverpool, printed for the Author, by Smith and Galway, and published by Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, London. 8vo. pp. 364. IT T is a curiosity natural to mankind, and particularly characteristic of minds aspiring after excellence, to desire to know the candid sentiments of others on matters that concern us, and the rank we hold in public estimation. The narratives of travellers contribute chiefly to the formation of that opinion, entertained by one people of another. If the sources of representation thus conveyed, be poisoned by prejudice or perverted by malice, an erroneous judgment must be formed, and the cause of truth is sacrificed at the shrine of hostility. When we meet with an impartial traveller, it is an acquisition to obtain his testimony. Of this description appears Mr. Bradbury; a plain, circumstantial writer, of no lofty pretensions, but deriving some title to attention, from the circumstance of having been selected, we understand, as a proper person, by the Linnæan Society, to make collections of botanical plants and seeds in the western hemisphere.

An introduction to Mr. Jefferson led our traveller to Monticello, where he was recommended to give a preference to the borders of the Mississippi for the prosecution of his labours. He proceeded accordingly to St. Louis, in Upper Louisiana, fourteen hundred miles above New Orleans, by the course of that river; and, subsequently, fifteen hundred miles farther, up the Missouri into the Illinois territory. Our naturalists will learn with interest, from Mr. Bradbury, that much yet remains to be done in the way of botanizing throughout those parts, that investigation would be amply repaid by the result, and that he passed a number of plants which may probably remain unknown for ages. Let us hope that he may be speedily followed up by others, actuated by equal enthusiasm and desire.

juvat intactos accedere fontes,

Atque haurire, juvatque novos decerpere Flores.

The collection made during this excursion has been published in an appendix to the Flora America Septentrionalis, but a catalogue of some of the more rare plants in the neighbourhood of St. Louis, and on the Missouri, is included, together with their habitats, in this publication.

There are many notices interspersed highly useful to those who contemplate a settlement in the remoter regions of the west, or desire to gather some information of the probable advantages attending the emigration of their connexions and friends to those parts. In addition to which, the politician may cull many facts of impor

tance to his researches. Some extracts may be acceptable to our readers.

We could have wished that Mr. Bradbury had not adopted the form of a diary for the conveyance of information, as, though it may indicate a precision as to dates and facts, yet, in a book of travels, it is too frequently a vehicle for the detail of trifling incidents, uninteresting to graver readers, beside swelling the book to an unnecessary bulk, and enhancing the price, a high crime and misdemeanor in the literary code; since knowledge ought to be dispensed to as many classes of the community as possible, at the least possible expense. In the diffusion of information, we acknowledge no aristocracy; and nothing, perhaps, so much contributes to this evil, as books rendered unnecessarily costly. It is with satisfaction we say it, that this is an offence confined, as yet, to the other side of the Atlantic.

We will appeal to Mr. Bradbury himself whether, on a revisal of his book, he would not have wished such passages as these expunged:

P. 43. 11th, 12th, 18th, and 14th May. We had a fair wind, and employed our sail, wherefore I could not go ashore without danger of being left behind. During these days the bread was examined, and being found wholly unfit for use, it was thrown overboard.

'Dorion, our interpreter, came, but without his squaw, who, it was intended, should accompany us. They had quarrelled, and he had beaten her, in consequence of which she ran away from him into the woods, with a child in her arms, and a large bundle on her back.

22d, 23d, and 24th. Almost incessant rain. We had not proceeded more than two miles, when our interpreter beat his squaw severely, and on Mr. Hunt inquiring the cause, he told him that she had taken a fancy to remain at the Osages in preference to proceeding with us, and because he had opposed it, she had continued sulky ever since.'

This gossip we will allow Mr. Bradbury to write to his wife, if he pleases, but not to print and pass off for valuable information. So far as dates may serve as an index to the seasons, and state of the weather at particular seasons of the year, the expense of their introduction will be cheerfully submitted to by a discerning public; but not when they become registers of a man's individual concerns. A meteorological journal might advantageously have been substituted for some matter of this kind; but we do not find even an average notice of the thermometer in the book! Still, there is much worth knowing, of which we had no previous account.

'Two hundred and forty miles from the mouth of the Missouri, stand the remains of Fort Orleans: near it is the mouth of La Grand Rivière, where I first observed the appearance of prairie, on the alluvion of the river. Prairie is the term given to such tracts of land as are devested of timber. In travelling west from the Alleghanies they occur more frequently, and are of greater extent, as we approach the Mississippi. When we proceed to the distance of two or three hundred miles west of that river, the whole country is of this description, which continues to the Rocky Mountains westward, and from the head waters of the Mississippi to near the Gulf of Mexico, an extent of territory which probably equals in area the whole empire of China. The territory west of