offspring. It is alfo probable, that the bouquetin is the origin of all the goat genus, becaufe it is the largeft, ftrongest, and dwells in the most inhospitable regions. For, according to the observation of the fame great zoologist *, whom we have fo often quoted, those animals who are natives of the coldest mountains muft, on defcending into the warm plains, be liable to greater changes than those who are formed for milder climates; and this circumftance seems fufficient to account for the great variety obfervable in the goat genus:

Some naturalifts pretend, that the bouquetin cannot be the original stock from whence the goats have been produced, because, as he inhabits only the loftieft fummits and rocks covered with eternal fnow, and feeds only on plants peculiar to high regions, he cannot be domefticated in a variety of climates. But this opinion is contradicted by fact and experience. Stumpf, the hiftorian of Switzerland, informs us, that the Vallaifans near Sion bred up tame bouquetins with their goats; and Belon relates, that the Cretans tamed the young bouceftains by giving them to be fuckled by the goats. Dr. Pallas alfo relates, that he has frequently feen the Siberian ibex among the tame

goats, and mentions one in partis cular at Orenburgh, which was leader of a flock, and father of a numerous offspring more refembling the females than himfelf. He was very different from the tame he-goats, fcarcely inferior in fize to a bouquetin two years old: in colour and strength he resembled the

wild animal; had thick horns, knobbed, not keeled above, and a long rough coat, but no where pendent, except in the beard: the' black lift on the back was almost. obliterated. And lastly, Mr. van Berchem faw feveral tame bouquetins at Aigle. They were gentle. and familiar; and, without being remarkably lively, were active and graceful in all their motions. They bred with different fhe-goats, and Mr. van Berchem faw the young ones, which feemed to form a new race.

If thefe obfervations fhould be well founded, the goat genus, or› race of the bouquetin, is found in a wild state along the chain of mountains that traverfes the tempe rate parts both of Europe and Ala; on the Alps, Pyrenees, and Carpathian mountains; on the Taurus and Caucafus; on the mountains of Siberia and Tartary in Kamtfchatka; on the islands of the Archipelago; in Hedsjæas in Arabia; in India; perhaps in Egypt and Lybia.

Account of the Tabasheer, in a Letter from Patrick Ruffell, M.D. F.R.S. From the Philofophital Tranfactions, Vol. lxxx. Part 2.

Tabeer, a drug in high the

pute in many parts of Eaft, was, I believe, first introduced to the knowledge of the weftern world through the works of the Arabian phylicians, all of whom mention it as an important article in their Materia Medica; and, from what I could obferve in Syria, it

ftill continues to be in much more general use in Turkey than in this part of India.

The genuine Tabafheer is undoubtedly a production of the Arundo Bambos of Linnæus, the Ily of the Hortus Malabaricus, and the Arundo Indica arborea maxima, cortice fpinofo, of Herman.

The bamboo in which the Tabasheer is found, is vulgarly called the Female Bamboo, and is diftinguifhed by the largenefs of its cavity from the male, employed for fpears or lances. They are faid to be feparate trees; but this fact I have not had it in my power to afcertain..

Of the feven pieces of bamboo which accompany this paper, four are from the mountains in the vicinity of Vellore, and three from a place twenty miles from hence. The former were perfectly green on their arrival at Madras; and the others were felected from a large parcel, which were green alfo when they came to my hands. These were all felected on a conjecture of their containing Tabafheer, from a certain rattling perceived upon fhaking the bamboo, as if fmall ftones were contained in the cavity.

In the month of April, one of the bamboos, confifting of fix joints, received from Vellore, being cautioufly split, each joint was examined feparately. In two of them no veftige of the drug was difcovered; ́ each of the others contained fome, but in various quantity; the whole collected amounted to about twentyfeven grains.

The quality alfo was various. The particles reckoned of the firft . quality were of a bluish white colour, refembling fmall fragments of

fhells; they were harder than the others, but might eafily be crumbled between the fingers into a gritty powder, and when applied to the tongue and palate, had a flight faline teftaceous taste: they did not exceed in weight four grains. The reft were of a cineritious colour, rough on the furface, and more friable; and intermixed with these were fome larger, light, fpongy particles, fomewhat refembling pumice-ftones.

In the month of July, forty-three green bamboos, each confifting of five or fix joints, were brought from the hills, fifty miles diftant from hence. Six, appearing to contain more Tabafheer than the others, were fet apart; the remaining thirty-feven were split, and examined in the manner before mentioned. The refult was as follows:

In nine out of the thirty-feven, there were no veftiges of Tabasheer. In twenty-eight fome were found in one, two, or three joints of each; but never in more than three joints of the fame bamboo. The quantity varied, but in all was inconfiderable; and the empty joints were fometimes contiguous, fometimes interrupted, indifferently.

The drug confifts of very diffimilar particles at first when taken from the bamboo, as will appear in looking into the small specimen, N° 1; which, having collected myself, I am certain has undergone no adulteration.

The whiter, fmooth, harder particles, when not loofe together with the others in the cavity, were mostly found adhering to the feptum that divides the joints, and to the fides contiguous; but never to the fides about the middle of the joints; and it may be remarked, that, inftead

of

of being chiefly found at the lower extremity of the joint, as might be expected from the juice fettling there, they were found adherent indifferently to either extremity, and fometimes to both. In this fitua tion they formed a smooth lining, fomewhat refembling polished stucco, which ufually was cracked in feveral places, and might eafily be detached with a blunt knife.

In fome joints the Tabafheer was found thus collected at one or both extremities only, and in fuch no rattling was perceived upon fhaking the bamboo; but generally, while fome adhered to the extremities of the joint, other detached pieces were intermixed with the coarfer loofe particles in the cavity.

The quantity found in each bamboo was very inconfiderable; the produce of the whole twenty-eight reeds, from five to seven feet long, not much exceeding two drams.

Submitting the fpecimens to examination, I refrain from experiments on them, which may more fuccefsfully be made in England, and fhall proceed to offer a few obfervations on the juice of the recent bamboo fuppofed to form the Tabafheer.

The existence of this fluid in the bamboo is known by fhaking the joint. In a confiderable number of bamboos fplit in order to procure it, I never found water in more than two joints, and generally not more than two or three drams in each; the largest quantity procured at one time, was one ounce and a half. Very few joints in proportion contained any.

The fluid was always tranfparent, but varied in confiftence; when thicker, it had a whiter colour than common; when more dilute it difVOL. XXXII.

fered little to the eye from common water, or fometimes had a pale greenish caft. Applied to the tongue and palate, it had a flight faline, fub-aftringent tafte, more or less perceptible in proportion to the confiftence of the fluid. After evaporation in the fun, the refiduum had a pretty ftrong faline tafte, with lefs aftringency. Some of the fluid, of a darkish colour, thickened in the reed to the confiftence of honey; and fome, in another joint of the fame reed, was perfectly white and almoft dry: both had the fharp falt tafte, which the Tabasheer, itself lofes in a great degree by keep ing.

In the latter end of October, a green bamboo of five joints was brought to me, which appeared to contain both water and Tabasheer. After three days, the found of water, upon fhaking the reed, could hardly be perceived; on the fifth day it was intirely imperceptible.

Upon fplitting the bamboo, about half a dram of the fluid, now thickened into a mucilage, was found at the bottom of the upper joint. The fecond joint contained fome perfect Tabalheer loofe in the cavity. The third joint was empty, excepting a few particles of Tabasheer, which adhered to the fides near the bot tom. The fourth joint, at the bottom, contained above a dram of a brownish pulpy fubstance, adherent. The laft joint, in like manner, contained half a dram of a fubftance thicker and harder in confiftence, and nearly of the colour of white wax.

This fpecimen exhibited at one view the progress of the Tabasheer through its feveral ftages. The found distinctly perceived in the first joint on the 23d of October, was F

produced

fhot up fpikes about fix feet high. Accompanying this, I send you a drawing of the plant in flower, and of the dried roots, in which the natural appearance is tolerably preferved.

"It is called by the natives Terankus, which means literally, in the Hindoo language, fever-reftrainer, from the virtues they attribute to it in that disease. They infufe about a dram of it in half a pint of hot water, with a fmall quantity of black pepper. This infufion ferves for one dofe, and is repeated three times a day. It is esteemed a powerful medicine in all kinds of fevers, whether continued or intermittent. I have not made any trial of it myfelf; but fhall certainly take the firft opportunity of doing fo.

"The whole plant has a strong aromatic odour; but both the smell

and the virtues refide principally

in the husky roots, which in chewing have a bitter, warm, pungent tafte, accompanied with fome degree of that kind of glow in the mouth, which cardamoms occafion."

Befides the drawing, a dried fpecimen has been fent, which was in fuch good preservation as to enable Sir Jofeph Banks, P. R. S. to afcertain it, by the botanical characters, to be a fpecies of Andropogon, different from any plant that has usually been imported under the name of Nardus, and different from any of that genus hitherto defcribed in botanical fyftems.

There is great reafon, however, to think, that it is the true Nardus Indica of the ancients. The circumftance, in the account above recited, of its being discovered in an unfrequented country, from the odour it exhaled by being trod up

on by the elephants and horses, corresponds, in à striking thanner, with an occurrence related by Arrian, in his Hiftory of the Expedition of Alexander the Great into India. It is there mentioned, lib. vi. cap. 22. that, during his march through the defarts of Gadrofia, the air was perfumed by the Spikenard, which was trampled under foot by the army; and that the Phoenicians, who accompanied the expedition, collected large quantities of it, as well as of myrrh, in order to carry them to their own country, as articles of merchandise.

Account of fome extraordinary Effects of Lightning. By William Withering, M.D. F.R.S. From the fame.

PER

ERMIT me to requeft the attention of the Royal Society, whilft I mention a few facts relative to a thunder-cloud, the lightning from which fufed a quantity of quartzofe matter.

This cloud formed in the fouth, in the afternoon of Sept. 3, 1789, and took its courfe nearly due north. In its paffage it fet fire to a field of ftanding corn; but the rain prefently extinguished the fire. Soon afterwards the lightning ftruck an oak tree, in the earl of Aylefford's park at Packington.

The height of this tree is 39 feet, including its trunk, which is 13 feet. It did not strike the highest bough, but that which projected fartheft fouthward. A man, who had taken fhelter against the north fide of the tree, was ftruck dead inftantane oufly, his cloaths fet on fire, and the mofs (lichen) on the trunk of the tree, where the back of his head

F 2

had