A Phial full of this liquid, one of the first specimens, I believe, that ever made its way to Great Britain, was lately sent to Dr Hooker by Sir Ralph Woodford, Governor of Trinidad. It had been collected in Laguayra by Mr Lockart, Director of the Botanic Garden in Trinidad. Dr Hooker having been good enough to put this rare specimen into my possession, I made a few experiments to determine its constituents. The singular nature of the production, rather than any thing very striking in the results which I obtained, led me to suppose that they would not be unacceptable to the Royal Society.

This curious vegetable production was first made known to the scientific world by M. de Humboldt. But from the very imperfect account which he gives of the Galactodendron utile, there is reason to conclude that he had never seen it. It is certain at least that he had never seen it in blossom. The attention of MM. Boussingault and Mariano de Rivero was drawn to this important liquid by M. de Humboldt. They collected it accordingly, and subjected it to a chemical examination. They found its constituents to be wax, fibrin, sugar, a magnesian salt, which was not an acetate, and water. They could neither detect in it casein nor caoutchouc. The ashes after incineration consisted of a mixture of silica, lime, phosphate of lime, and magnesia.