Page:On the characters, properties, and uses of Eucalyptus globulus and other species of Eucalyptus.djvu/6

 southern Europe and in many parts of Africa, Asia, and America. M. Ramel not only called attention to the great value of the Eucalyptus globulus as a forest tree, but also claimed for it the power of destroying the miasmatic influence of marshy districts. It seems clear, therefore, that it is to M. Ramel, rather than to Sir W. Macarthur, that the discovery of this valuable property of Eucalyptus globulus properly belongs.

Subsequently to the above dates, several notices appeared bearing testimony to the febrifugal property of the bark and leaves of this plant when administered internally—among others by M. Pepin, Dr. Carlotti, of Corsica, Dr. Lorinser, of Vienna, Professor Gubler, and Dr. Maclean, of Netley; and in 1870 Dr. Gimbert, of Cannes, wrote a memoir entitled Eucalyptus globulus: its value in Agriculture, Hygiene, and Medicine;' and again, in the 'Comptes Rendus' for October 6th, 1873, he made a further communication narrating the results of his experiments in Algeria in improving the miasmatic climate by plantations of this tree, and also published a paper in the 'Archives générale de Médecine,' entitled "Etude des Applications Thérapeutiques de lEucalyptus globulus." It is these latter communications of M. Gimbert which have been the cause more especially of public attention being at the present time so particularly directed to the uses of this plant.

.—It would be incompatible with my object in this lecture to enter minutely into a botanical description of this and other species of Eucalyptus; but we refer those who desire such information to Bentham and Mueller's 'Flora Australiensis,' and content ourselves here by giving some general botanical details.

The genus Eucalyptus belongs to the natural order Myrtaceæ of botanists, the same order to which belong the Myrtle, the Clove-tree, the Pimenta or Allspice, the Cajeput-oil plant, the Pomegranate, and numerous other plants which are well known as ornamental trees or shrubs, or for their timber, or from yielding various valuable medical and economic products. All the Eucalypti (of which 135 species are described in the 'Flora Australiensis'), with the exception of a very few and, in some cases, doubtful species, are natives of Australia, where they are commonly known either as "Gum-trees," from yielding what are generally described as gummy or resinous products, or as "Stringy-bark trees," from their rough fibrous bark. Various other local names are also applied to the different species by the colonists in Australia, such as "blue," "red," and "white" gum, peppermint, turpentine, iron-bark, woolly-butt, &c. All the species