that grow in the rich inland valleys-defy the means of removal possessed by the natives. Masses of from six to eight tons are not very easily moved in any country; and in a mountainous and rocky one, where much attention is not paid to mechanical power, to move them is impossible. In Cuba the inhabitants have neither enterprise nor skill adequate to felling the mahogany trees, and transporting them to the shore, and thus the finest timber remains unused. The first mention of it is that it was used in the repair of some of Sir Walter Raleigh's ships, at Trinidad, in 1597. Its finely variegated tints were admired, but in that age the dream of El Dorado caused matters of more value to be neglected. The first that was brought to England was about the beginning of last century; a few planks having been sent to Dr. Gibbons, of London, by a brother who was a West India captain. The Doctor was erecting a house in King Street, Covent Garden, and gave the planks to the workmen, who rejected it as being too hard. The Doctor's cabinet maker, named Wollaston, was employed to make a candle-box of it, and as he was sawing up the plank he also complained of the hardness of the timber; but when the candle-box was finished, it outshone in beauty all the Doctor's other furniture, and became an object of curiosity and exhibition. The wood was then taken into favour. Dr. Gibbons had a bureau made of it, and the Duchess of Buckingham another; and the despised mahogany now became a prominent article of luxury, and at the same time raised the fortune of the cabinet-maker by whom it had been at first so little regarded. In the earliest periods it was much used by the Spaniards in ship-building. When first introduced by them it was very dark and hard, and without much of that beautiful variety of colour which now renders it superior to all other timber for cabinet work; but it was more durable, and took a higher polish with less labour. At that time it was called Madeira wood, though it appears to have come from San Domingo (Hayti) and the Bahamas. Of course it was wholly unknown to the ancients. It was first introduced in the sixteenth century, but it was not generally used in England till the eighteenth. QUALITIES.-The bark is brittle, compact, of a light red colour internally; externally it is covered with a rough grey epidermis. Its taste is very bitter and astringent, at the same time not in any way nauseous or disagreeable; it yields its virtues to water both by infusion and decoction, and forms an admirable tincture prepared after the same way as the Tinctura Cinchona. The wood yields an extract very similar to Kino, but it is bitter and less astringent. MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES.-This bark, which was first recommended as a tonic by Dr. Roxburgh, has excited little attention amongst European practitioners, but in India it is highly prized by our army surgeons, who use it in all those cases which have been usually benefited by Cinchona. Mr. Breton, who published a paper on it in the eleventh volume of the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, says, "In a number of cases of confirmed remittent bilious fevers (commonly called jungle fever), I have put this bark to the fairest possible test, and as success was uniformly the result of my repeated trials, I think I am warranted in concluding it to be an efficient substitute for the Peruvian bark. In common intermittent fevers, I have employed this bark very extensively, and with invariable success. I have also put this drug to the test of trial in three cases of grangrene and mortification, and in a case of suppurated liver; but as it was accompanied with auxiliaries, I cannot speak so positively of its actual efficacy in these instances. The uniform result, however, of so many experiments, satisfied my own mind that the Swietenia febrifuga answers every purpose of Peruvian bark in allaying irritability and restoring strength.. I trust I shall not be accused of being visionary or enthusiastic, when I avow my own conviction, after having long employed this bark in every case where Cinchona is indicated, that it forms a completely efficient substitute for the American drug, and that time alone is required to extend the general conviction of its efficacy, which every succeeding experiment will assuredly impress." In a letter from Dr. Roxburgh, which accompanies Mr. Breton's paper, he states his continued belief in its efficacy, and recommends the bark to be collected when the sap begins to ascend freely, at which period it separates readily. He also believes the small, or rather, middling-sized branches, to yield the bark best suited for medical purposes; and it may be used as soon as it is dry enough for powdering. Messrs. Cochrane, Cheese, Grant and Davidson, &c. have tried it very extensively in India, and confirm all that has been advanced in its favour; and they seem to agree in its being better retained in the stomach when in substance, and in greater quantities than Cinchona usually is. Dr. Ainslie also recommends it to the extent of four or five drachms in the twenty-four hours, as a very efficacious medicine; but beyond that quantity, in every instance in which he tried it, it appeared to derange the nervous system, occasioning vertigo and subsequent stupor. DOSES.-Its dose in substance is from one to four, five, and six drachms a day. |