Collections for an essay towards a materia medica of the United-States / By Benjamin Smith Barton ... Part first.

  • Benjamin Smith Barton
Date:
1801
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Collections for an essay towards a materia medica of the United-States / By Benjamin Smith Barton ... Part first. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    nocent, are known to be noxious to intestinal worms, and many other animals. Such is sugar, as has been demonstated by the experiments of Redi, Carminati, and other writers. The case which I have alluded to ren¬ ders the deleterious quality of this vegetable very probable. I may add, that in some parts of Carolina, the root is deemed poisonous. Horses and horned cattle, however, eat, with impunity, the leaves and berries. Certain species of birds (particularly the Turdus migratorius, or Robin, and the TurdusPolyglot- tos, or Mocking-bird), devour the berries in such large quantities, that after eating of them, they are observed to fall down, and are readily taken. Does not this cir¬ cumstance render it probable, that the berries contain an intoxicating quality? This, however, I believe, is not the general opinion of the inhabitants of Carolina, who ascribe the condition of the birds merely to the circum¬ stance of their having eaten so abundantly of the berries, that they injure entirely by distention. The ripe berries have a sweetish, but nauseous taste. As the Melia is now completely naturalized to the states of Carolina and Georgia, it may not be amiss to close this article by observing, that the fruit of this vegetable is employed in Japan for furnishing an express¬ ed oil, which grows hard like tallow, and is used for making candles*. May not our fellow-citizens, to the south, render it worth their attention to follow the ex¬ ample of the Japanese, in the instance I have mentioned? It remains for me to say a few words concerning two other native American plants, both reputed anthel- * See Professor Thunberg’s Travels in Europe, Africa, and Asia, See. Sec. VoL III. p. 223. English translation. London; 1795.
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