The Botanic Garden, a Poem in Two Parts. Part 1: the Economy of VegetationDarwin, Erasmus
History
The Botanic Garden, a Poem in Two Parts. Part 1: the Economy of Vegetation
Darwin, Erasmus
Natural history; Plants -- Poetry; Portland Vase
The secretions from various vegetable glands hardened in the air produce
gums, resins, and various kinds of saccharine, saponaceous, and wax-like
substances, as the gum of cherry or plumb-trees, gum tragacanth from the
astragalus tragacantha, camphor from the laurus camphora, elemi from
amyris elemifera, aneme from hymenoea courbaril, turpentine from
pistacia terebinthus, balsam of Mecca from the buds of amyris
opobalsamum, branches of which are placed in the temples of the East on
account of their fragrance, the wood is called xylobalsamum, and the
fruit carpobalsamum; aloe from a plant of the same name; myrrh from a
plant not yet described; the remarkably elastic resin is brought into
Europe principally in the form of flasks, which look like black leather,
and are wonderfully elastic, and not penetrable by water, rectified
ether dissolves it; its flexibility is encreased by warmth and destroyed
by cold; the tree which yields this juice is the jatropha elastica, it
grows in Guaiana and the neighbouring tracts of America; its juice is
said to resemble wax in becoming soft by heat, but that it acquires no
elasticity till that property is communicated to it by a secret art,
after which it is poured into moulds and well dried and can no longer be
rendered fluid by heat. Mr. de la Borde physician at Cayenne has given
this account. Manna is obtained at Naples from the fraxinus ornus, or
manna-ash, it partly issues spontaneously, which is preferred, and
partly exsudes from wounds made purposely in the month of August, many
other plants yield manna more sparingly; sugar is properly made from the
saccharum officinale, or sugar-cane, but is found in the roots of beet
and many other plants; American wax is obtained from the myrica
cerifera, candle-berry myrtle, the berries are boiled in water and a
green wax separates, with luke-warm water the wax is yellow: the seed of
croton sebiferum are lodged in tallow; there are many other vegetable
exsudations used in the various arts of dyeing, varnishing, tanning,
lacquering, and which supply the shop of the druggist with medicines and
with poisons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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