Dr. Landerer states that the Syrian rue is a highly esteemed plant in Greece. This plant appears to have been known to the ancients, and mentioned by Dioscorides. Its properties are narcotic, resembling those of the Indian hemp. The Turks macerate the seeds in scherbet or boosa, administering the infusion internally. It also serves in the preparation of a yellow dye. The seeds are sometimes used by the Turks as a spice, and the same people also resort to them to produce a species of intoxication. The Emperor Solyman, it is stated kept himself in a state of intoxication by their use. The peculiar phenomena of this intoxication has not, that we are aware, been described, but we are informed that the property of producing it exists in the husks of the seeds, from which a chemical principle of a narcotic nature has been obtained. There is another plant, a native of Arabia, and of the nightshade family, so prolific in narcotics, the seeds of which are used by some of the Asiatics to produce those mental reveries and excitement so much coveted. These seeds, the produce of a plant known to botanists under the name of _Scopolia mutica_, are also roasted and infused to form a sort of drink, in which the Arabs and some others indulge. The seeds of a species of _Sterculia_ are said to be used by the natives of Silhet as a substitute for opium. The Cola nuts, so highly esteemed by the negroes of Guinea, are the produce of a Sterculia. The natives attribute very extraordinary properties to these seeds, somewhat analogous to those claimed by the Peruvians for the leaf of the coca, stating, that if chewed, they satisfy hunger, and prevent the natural craving for food, that for this purpose they carry some with them when undertaking a long journey. They are also affirmed to improve the flavour of anything that may be subsequently eaten, if a portion of one of them is taken before meals. Formerly they were even more esteemed than at the present day. In those times, fifty of them were sufficient to purchase a wife. These seeds are flat, and of a brownish colour and bitter taste. Their tonic properties have been supposed equal to those of the famed Cedron seeds of Guiana and the more famous Cinchona bark of the Andes. Probably further and more elaborate investigation will prove that these wonderful seeds possess slightly beneficial properties as a tonic, it may be even inferior to those of the roots of Gentian, or other parts of some of our indigenous plants. In the Straits, the leaves of the “Beah” tree are used by the opium-smokers as a substitute for opium, when that drug is not procurable. These serrated leaves, the produce of we know not precisely what tree, except under the above native name, are occasionally sold in the bazaars or markets at a quarter of a rupee per catty, or at the rate, Anglicised, of fourpence halfpenny per pound.