Account of a Book

VI. Account of a BOOK. Catalogus Plantarum quae in insula Jamaica sponte proveniunt vel vulgo coluntur, cum earundem synonymis & locis natalibus; adjectis aliis quibusdam quae in insulis Maderae, Barbados, Nieves, & Sancti Christophori nascentur, seu prodromi historiae naturalis Jamaicæ pars prima. Autore Hans Sloane M.D. Coll. reg. Med. Lond. nec non Soc. Reg. Lond. Sac. Londini Impensis Dan. Brown ad Insigne Cygni, & Biblioram extra portam vulgo dictam Temple-bar, 1696. in 8°. with some Remarks on it by John Ray, A.M & F.R.S. The Author of this Catalogue doth not present the Reader with Titles of Plants Collected out of other Mens Writings, or of which he had seen only dried Specimens, but of such as himself saw growing in their Native Places: Among which there are a great Multitude of New and Non-descript Species; in one Genus alone, viz. Those called Capillaries, no less than Threescore, besides those lately Published by F. Plumier in his first Volume of Descriptions of American Plants, which our Author had observed and described long before that Book came out; and these not small and contemptible ones, or hardly distinguishable from the Plants of that kind already described, but of eminent Stature and Beauty; and some of them of so strange and exotick Form, that if delineated they could not but invite, and gratefully entertain the Spectator's Eye. For First, Who would not be delighted to see an arborescent Fern, of a single Woody Stem, straight and undivided, bearing leaves only at the top like a Palm-Tree? Capillaries of almost all kinds, creeping on Trees, or Rocks, or the Ground, with Wires after the manner of Strawberries: Or Thirdly Capillaries, the tip of whose leaves turning downwards, and touching the Earth takes Root and puts forth a new Plant, so Propagating their kind: Or Fourthly Capillaries putting forth from the middle Stem of their Leaves two shoots, each bearing a Spike of Flowers and Seeds. I confess, when I first saw the Authors stock of dried Plants, collected in Jamaica and some of the Caribee Islands, I was much surprised and even astonished at the number of the Capillary kind; not thinking there had been so many to be found in both the Indies. I might say much of the other Genera, but I refer the Reader to the Book itself. Secondly, The Author in this Catalogue hath done great Service, to at least the inferior Ranks of Herbalists, in reducing and cutting short the number of Species, which were unnecessarily multiplied: For observing, that those who have published Itineraries, or Descriptions of the several parts of America, for want of sufficient Skill in Botanicks, and not being versed in Describing Plants, have given us such lame, imperfect, and obscure Descriptions of such as they took Notice of, and of the same Tree or Herb many times under different Names, that the Compilers of general Histories of Plants meeting with these Descriptions, and having no other knowledge of such Plants then what they derived from them, have repeated one and the same Species, found in far distant Countries by various Observers, and differently described, once, twice, thrice; (nay some great Authors sometimes even nine times) over, for different kinds. kinds. Now the Number of Plants being in Nature so vast, its pity to add to it more than there are in Nature, making two or three of one, thereby both deterring and confounding the Learner. To clear up these difficulties, and to reduce all to their proper kinds, no man can be well qualified, but he that hath a Comprehensive Knowledge of such Plants as grow wild, or are commonly Cultivated in Gardens here in Europe, and hath seen the nondescript Americans, or such as are here less known growing in their natural places; and hath read, considered, and compared what hath been written of them, either by such who have lived some time in those Countries, and published Descriptions or natural Histories of them, or by such as have only made Voyages thither, and given us Relations and Accounts of their Travels, and what they observed during their short stay there: All which qualities occur in our Author. Thirdly, This Work is of great use to those that are delighted in reading the Relations and Accounts of Navigators and Travellers, to and in those parts, to inform them concerning the Names of American and Indian Plants, they shall therein meet with, to what Plants they belong, and where they may find exact Descriptions or Characteristic Notes of them. The Author having with infinite Pains and Patience, read the most part of the Books of Voyages and Travels extant, referred the Plants he met with therein, named or described to their proper Genera, or Titles, under which they are Ranked, and by which they are denominated and Characterized by the most Learned and Skilful Herbarists of the present, or immediately precedent Age. Fourthly, The Author in this Work hath cleared up and resolved many Doubts and Difficulties, and informed us of what Plants are signified by many Names frequent in the Mouths and Writings of our own Country-men, of which before we were either Ignorant, or in some doubt. For Example, He hath informed us that the Dumb Cane so called, which being tasted, inflames the Tongue and Jaws in that manner, that for a while it takes away the use of Speech, is not properly any Species of Reed or Cane, but of Arum or Wake-Robin; which quality indeed agrees very well to the Nature of an Arum, which is very Acrimonious, but not to any sort of Cane. That Logwood is not (as we conjectured) the Ligno Brasiliiano simile, seu Lignum Sapou, lanit tingendis percommodum of Caspar Baubine, but Lignum Campechianum, so called from Campeche, a Province of the Continent of America; where they Fell Yearly great Store of these Trees, and bring them to Jamaica and our other Plantations, to be Transported hither for the use of Diers. That the Dildoe-tree is the same with the Cereus or Torch-Plant. Caterum Dildoe nonnullis Priapum fictitium significat, quo effraenis lascivae mulierculae abuti solent ad nefaria quoddam libidinis genus seu coitum umbratilem exercendum. I might add to these the Toddy-Tree, the Prickly-pear, the Sower-Sop, Bonavists, and many others whose Significations may be found in this Catalogue. Besides, We are assured by this Work, that there are some Plants common not only to Europe and America, but even to England and Jamaica, notwithstanding the great distance of Place, and difference, both of Longitude and Climate. But here it is to be noted, that the greatest part of these common Plants are such as grow in the Water, or Watery-places; there being, it seems, a greater agreement between the temper of the Waters, then of the Air in these remotely distant Countries. ERRATA. No 220. Pag 256. Line 31. For In a large quantity of it, read In a very small drop of which. LONDON: Printed for S. Smith and B. Walford, Printers to the Royal Society, at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Churchyard. 1696.