langs one of them was to Carthagena, in Spanish America. From thence he travelled through the greater part of Pera. On his return to Jamaica, and from thence to England in 1787, he gave me a Calabash, containing about a pound of a White Powder; he did not know what this powder was ;' but told me with great astonishment, that the Indians in Peru, whenever they make long journeys, take with them the same sort of Calabash, or Gourd, filled with this white powder; with a small horn-spoon in the bunghole. One of these little spoons, was in the calabash of powder he gave to me. In their journeys, the Indians take a spoonful of the powder into their mouths, and swallow it gradually; and when thirsty, they drink a draught of water after it. Thus, without any other nutriment, they will travel a thousand miles; and often remain for a considerable time in the mountains and woods,in hunting, and in secreting themselves from the Spaniards, without taking any food with them. An instance is recorded, and well known, of an Indian baving travelled with alarm dispatches from Lima to the North Sea, through an immense tract of uninhabited regions, at the time when Anson was on the coast of Peru, with out any other support; at least his calabash, and a little tobacco, was all be took with him; and it was ascertained, that no food could be prosured in the route he went. On examining this wonderful powder, I found it was the Lime of Oyster Shells calcined; which, from having been kept dry, and well cork ed up, had the quick pungency of common lime fresh made; and on which its virtue depends. PETER DE CIEZA, who resided seventeen years in Peru, treats very minutely of the customs of the Indians, and says, that " they hold in their mouths a small herb called Coca; with a composition, they keep in little calabashes, or else a sort of earth like lime. Respecting the Coca leaves, he "throughout all Peru, from the says, * See DOCTOR MOSELEY'S Treatise on Tropical Diseases, Military Operations, and Climate of the West Indies. Edit. 4th, p. 562. 1 time they rise in the morning until they go to bed at night, they are never without this Coca in their mouths. The reason some Indians, to whom I put the question, gave me for so doing, was, that it made them insensible of hunger, and add ed to their strength and vigour " "Coca is planted in the mountains of the Andes, from Guamanga to the town of La Plata, where it grows up to little trees, which they cherish and nurse carefully, that they may bear those leaves resembling our myrtle. They dry them in the sun, and then lay them out in baskets, each of them holding about a quarter of an hundred weight. So highly was this Coca valued in Peru, in 1548, 49, 50, and 51, that I believe, no plant in the world, except spice, could equal it; for at that time, most of the plantations about Cuzco, La Paz, and La Plata, yielded, some eighty, some sixty, and some forty thousand pieces of eight a year, more or less, and all in Coca; and who soever had lands assigned him, first reckoned how many baskets of Coca they yielded. In fine, it was more esteemed than the best wheat. They carried it to sell at the mines of Potosi; and so many fell to planting, that it is now much fallen in price, but will always be valued. Several Spaniards got estates by buying and selling Coca; or bartering for it in the Indian markets +." Many authors since CIEZA's time, have given marvellous relations, of the South American Indians living a long time on a portable substitute for food. But the composition of this substitute has never been cor rectly ascertained. It appears, how ever, that Coca, or Betle, os Tobacco, with the Lime already mentioned, are the principal ingredients of the composition. Our countryman PARKINSON, tak. ing his account from travellers, says, that the American Indians "ehew the leaves of the Coca in their long journeys, to preserve them from bun ger and thirst abroad, as for pleasure at home; which they use after this manner. They burn oyster-sheils, and with the powder of them they mix the powder of the leaves of this Cocu, first chewed in their mouths, and so made up as it were into a paste or dough (but take less of the oyster-shells than of the leaves) whereof they make small pellets, trochisses, or trosses, laying them to dry, and so use them one by one, holding them in their mouths, rolling them to and fro, and sucking them until they be quite spent, and then take another, which maketh them able to travel many dayes with strength, without either meat or drink, through uninhabited places, where none is to be had. If they stay at home, they use the Coca alone, chewing it sometimes an whole day without ceasing, until the substance be sucked forth, and then use another. If they would have them to be stronger, able to intoxicate their brains like unto drunkenness, they put the leaves of Tobacco to it, and take great pleasure in those courses.” He says, "the East Indians do use the leaves of the Bette, much after the same manner that they of the West do the Coca leaves." The ordinary manner of which is, they chew the leaves in their mouths, and spit out the first juice that cometh from them, which is like blood, and put unto them a little of the calx of burnt Oyster-shells,and the fruit of Areca or Faufell, beaten small, which give them a pleasant taste *." 1 Our other countryman GERARD observes, that "the leaves of Betle, chewed in the mouth, are of a bitter taste (saith Garcias.) They (the Indians) put thereto some Areca, and with Lime made of Oyster-shells, whereunto they also add some, Ambergrease, Liguum Aloes, and such like, which they stamp together, making it into a paste, which they roll up into round balls, keep dry for their use, and carry the same in their mouths, until by little and little it is consumed, as when we carry sugarcandy in our mouths, or the juice of liquorice, which is not only unto the silly Indians, meat, but also drink, in their tedious travels, refreshing their weary spirits, and helping their memory +." Some modern travellers have given as what they conceive to be the composition of the Betel, or Betle mas *‹ Theat. Botan, p. 1614, 1615, † Herbal, p. 1541.” ticatory; with some observations on its almost universal use in the East. Peron says, Betel is usually com posed of Areck-nut two parts, Quick Lime one part, of the burning leaf of a species of Pepper (Piper betel); and of the leaves of Tobacco one part. These are well mixed together, and form a sort of a quid for the mouth; which is in general use in all hot climates, from the Moluccas to the Yellow River; and from the Ganges and Indus to the shores of the Black Sea. Labillardiere observes, that Lime is an essential ingredient of this pres paration; and that the inhabitants of the Adnfiralty Islands carry with them Calabashes and Bamboos of very finely powdered Quick-lime. One of them, he says, had a spoon in the form of a spatula, which he filled with Lime, and made many signs and gestures, to show his visitors bow excellent it was. Messrs. Humboldt and Bonpland confirm, what we have before stated, that Quick-lime is now sold in South America, in the public markets, for chewing, as an article of the first necessity; and that it is prepared from the buruing of calcareous ma drepores ‡. Many writers have mentioned the power of Tobacco in suspending hunger. This is not unknown to people who are in the habit of chewing it. MONADES says, the Indians chew pills made of Tobacco; and that their languor and thirst are so allayed thereby, that they can travel many days without food §. MAGNENUS records, that a soldier at the siege of Valencia, in 1636, lived without food for a week, and underwent the greatest fatigue, by chewing Tobacco only *. Every person knows what violent contentions and partisans Tobacco gave rise to, on its first introduction into England: King JAMES entered the lists furiously against it; and others See the American Medical Repostory, vol. iii. Hexade 2. pp. 100, 101. This highly valuable work is published Samuel Latham Mitchill, and Doctor periodically at New York, by Doctor Edward Miller, two eminent Physicians of that City. § Lib. de Simpl. Med. Cap. de Tas .baco. De Tabaco, Exercit. ix. as as furiously defended it. Perhaps BEN JONSON had these combatants in view, in Bobadil's extravagant eulogium on Tobacco. "I have been," says the admirable braggadocia, the Indies, where this herb grows, where neither myself, nor a dozen gentlemen more, of my knowledge, have received the taste of any other nutriment in the world, for the space of one and twenty weeks, but the fume of this simple only *." There are several kinds of absorbent earths, which produce similar effects, in part, on the gastric juice, to the stronger alkalies. The Negroes in the markets in the West Indies, make a regular traffick with a pinguious earth, called Aboo earth which they sell to the slaves, and others, who are in that part of the world termed Dirt-eaters. There are some also that are not regular Dirt-eaters, who frequently eat it, such is their taste, by way of luxury. Dirt-eaters, though generally, are not always sickly and diseased people; and many of them retain their health, but little impaired, for a considerable time. Those who are strongly tainted with that vitiated state of the stomach, which inclines them to this depravity, will, if left to themselves, live entirely on earth, until it de stroys them; and will not, unless compelled, take any other food. Neither age nor sex, among the African race, is exempt from this passion; and many of them will live for months successively, on dirt and those long accustomed to it, being deprived of it, languish, no nourishment can restore them, and they invariably die. Children, and young people, however, are often recovered to health, by turning them from the fatal course. A Dirt-eater's tongue is universally white, but generally moist; and when he is diseased, there is always a pain of the stomach. The skin is dry, and feverish. Dirt-eaters often die tabid, with water in the thorax; but, for the most part, in an universal anasarca. Dirt-eating, in the West Indies, is a curious disease; for this vice of appetite extends only to the pecu * Every Man in his Humour, Act iii, Sc. 5. liar sort of earth before mentioned, which is a species of the Marga, or Marl. BROWNE calls it subpinguis tenax ; or clammy Marl. He says, it " runs in veins, and is chiefly found in marly beds; it is of different colours, but these generally answer to that of the layer wherein it is found. It is apparently smooth and greasy, and somewhat cohesive in its nature, but dissolves easily in the mouth. The Negroes who make use of this substance say, that it is sweetish; and many get a habit of eating it to such excess, that it often proves fatal to them. It is the most certain poison I have known, when used for any length of time; and often enters so abundantly into the course of the circulation, as to obstruct all the minute capillaries of the body; nay, has been often found concreted in the glands, and smaller vessels of the lungs, so far as to become sensibly perceptible to the touch. It breaks the texture of the blood entirely; and for many months before they die, a general languor affects the machine, and all the internal parts, lips, gums, and tongue, are quite pale, insomuch, that the whole mass of their juices seems to be no better than a waterish lymph. It is probable they are first induced to the use of this substance, which is generally well known among them, to allay some sharp cravings of the stomach; either from hunger, worms, or an unnatural habit of body +." This disease is not, strictly speaking, the Malacia, or Pica: which disease, as well as Chlorosis, is also common in hot climates. In the Pica, the depravity covets a variety of articles; such as cinders, mortar, vinegar, salt, bitters, and many detestable things. But a genuine Dirteater confines himself to his adored Aboo earth'; and only in defect of that, has recourse to Malacian filth. Dirt-eating is said to be endemical in some districts of North Carolina; and not there confined to the Negro race ‡. But to return to our Indian story, Notwithstanding all that has been here related, I believe we are not fully acquainted with the whole of the Indian secret, by which the natural appetite for food is by them suspended. It must certainly be more than doubted, when we consider the ingredients of which it is said to be composed. But we are certain of this very extraordinary fact, that they have that secret, and put it in practice for weeks together; and undergo the greatest fatigue, without any injury to their health or bodily vigour. They want neither butcher, nor baker, nor brewer, nor distiller, nor fuel, nor culinary utensils. We have shewn that some simple absorbent earths have the power of appeasing the excitement of the gastric juice; for that is the renovating cause of hunger. This stimulating fluid rendered inert by disease, or by art, the animal machine does not necessarily decompose for want of nutriment; while it can perform the functions of an hydraulic. When we look at the histories of people living months, nay years, using scarcely any food, it diminishes our surprize at the Peruvian Indians. There is an instance at this time, in Mrs. Ann Moore, of Tetbury in Staffordshire, which, though she has been detected for an impostor, surpasses any thing on record in the annals of starvation. If the case be not as she pretended on the 16th of September 1811, that she had then lived four years and six months without any food whatever, and three years without having swallowed even a drop of water; yet, on her detection, the facts of her abstinence turned out to be such as to stagger all human belief *." Now if Professor Davy, when he returns from his travels, will apply his thoughts to this subject, I have here given him some important maThere terials for his experiments. are thousands, even in this happy land, who will pour their blessings on him, if he will but discover a temporary Anti Famine, or substitute for food, free from all inconvenience of weight, bulk, and expence; and by * See Medical Observer, of March 1809, for an interesting account of writers who have given relations of all the remarkable instances of long continued existence without food, which any person might be enabled. like a Peruvian Indian, to live and labour in health and spirits, for a month now and then, without eating. It would be the greatest achievement, whatever a London Alderman might think, ever attained by human wis dom. Every man's house would then in deed be, his castle. No Starving out. And if every Englishman were of the school of PYTHAGORAS, as I am, they must dwell with rapture on the thought of the multitude of animals that would be spared from slaughter, to supply the bloody habits of twelve millions of people, were this Peruvian regimen adopted, only on alternate days, through the year. Yours, &c. ACADEMICUS. To Thomas Stonor, Esq, Stonor Park, near Henley on Thames. LETTER III. DEAR SIR, Sept. 1, 1814. HE two Letters on the General TReading of the Bible by Ro man Catholicks, which I had the honour of addressing to you from Stonor Park, where your kindness to me was hastening my convalescence from a serious indisposition, have produced several Replies:whether they are Answers, I shall leave to the judg ment of the publick. the real Discipline of the Roman CaThe object of them was, to state of the Bible by the Laity; and to shew tholic Church respecting the perusal that the limitation, with which it is permitted, has not the extensive ope ration which has been ascribed to it. They were occasioned by Mr. Blair's publication of "A Correspondence on the Formation, Objects, and Plan of the Roman Catholic Bible Society." It gave me great pleasure to hear of the communications mentioned in that correspondence. amiable and respectable Chancellor It is a just observation of the truly of the Exchequer that "the cooperation of persons of different religious denomination in religious matters, so far as they can conscientious * Three Letters on the subject of the British and Foreign Bible Society, addressed to the Rev. Dr. Marsh and John Coker, esq. By the Right Honour able Nicholas Vansittart. Hatchard, 8vo. 1812. ly co-operate, is one of the most efficacious means of lessening both the political and religious means of dissent that it dispels prejudices, promotes candour and good-will, and must prepare the mind for the reception of truth; · and that, from such a communication, the true Church has nothing to fear." Under this impression, I hoped the communication, to which I have alluded, would have been attended with the most salutary effects. The great Principle of the Roman Catholic religion, that the faithful receive the Bible under the authority of the Church, and with her interpretation, I knew her ministers could not, conscientiously, either deny or conceal: but I flattered myself, that the communications of Mr. Blair with them would lead to explanations, which would unquestionably shew, that the Roman Catholic church has contributed greatly to the circulation of the Sacred Volumes in every form, in every country, in every language; and that her ministers have been unjustly accused of locking them up from the general body of the faithful. To a certain extent, these hopes have been disappointed : → the communications in question took a different direction, and ended in Mr. Blair's criminatory letters. But discussion ever serves the cause of truth: and so confident I am that the Roman Catholic cause has gained by the late discussion, that I shall leave it to rest on the replies which have been given to my letters, and shall not trouble you or the publick with a single observation upon them. If I should print my letters separately, it is probable that I shall print the replies to them; if I do not, I shall certainly refer my readers to the respectable Repository where they may be found. I avail myself, however, of this letter to trouble you with this observation. I have been accused (it is a very odd subject for accusation)—of a wish to effect a re-union between Protestants and Roman Catholicks. A correspondence on this re-union was long carried on between Bossuet and Leibnitz. It is to be wished that it were more generally known: it is to be found both in the old and new edition of the Works of Bossuet, and in the late Mr. Dutens's Edition of the Works of Leibnitz. A very good account of it is given in a work recently published in 2 vols. 8vo. called Les, Fensées de Leibnitz; and some account of it is given by the writer of these lines, in his Life of Bossuet. It is difficult for a lover of peace to peruse it without thinking the re union possible: when, however, he considers, in whose hands it failed, it is difficult for him not to doubt of its possibility. But, to avail myself once more of Mr. Vansittart's truly elegant and truly Christian language in the letter which I have already cited." There is," he says, an inferior degree of re-union more within our prospect, and yet, perhaps, as perfect as human infirmity allows us to hope for; wherein, though all differences of opinion should not be extinguished, yet they may be so refined from all party prejudice and interested views, so softened by the spirit of charity and mutual concession, and so con trouled by agreement on the leading principles and zeal for the general interests of Christianity, that no sect or persuasion should be tempted to make religion subservient to secu lar views, or to employ political power to the prejudice of others." "The existence of Dissent," the same writer, nunquam sine laude vocandus, observes in another of his letters, "will perhaps be inseparable from religious freedom, so long as the mind of man is liable to error: but it is not unreasonable to hope, that hostility may cease when perfect agreement cannot be established. kr WE CANNOT RECONCILE ALL OPINIONS, LET US RECONCILE ALL HEARTS." I am sure I cannot close the cor respondence with you on this subject (I may resume it in some other) better than by these golden words. With great respect, I have the honour to be your obliged humble servant, C.B. Character of ERASMUS; from DYER'S "History of Cambridge.". porary with Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, Master of Queen's College, and Chancellor of the University in 1504. At his invitation, Erasmus came to Cambridge, and resided there about seven years, being the first who taught Greek publicly in the University. Some of its best scholars were proud to become his disciples, and |