H e a t .
S o il *
B o t a n y .
J A P A N .
is very changeable, and fubjedl to frequent rains, fertilizing the
ground, as they do that o f our ifland. Thunder is frequent, and
earthquakes-fo common, as never to be minded, unlefs attended
(as has been often the cafe) with dreadful confquences.
T h e fummer heat is very great, and fcarcely tolerable, when
not alleviated by the winds ; it fometimes, in July and Augujl,
raifes Fahrenheit's, thermometer to ioo\ The cold on the contrary
is exceffive, and finks the mercury many degrees below the
freezing point, efpecially when the winds blow from the north
and the eaft ; in the northern parts there are mountains fcarcely
ever free from fnow.
T h e whole empire is mountanous, level meadows are unknown
; the fields o f the vallies con fill of a clayey foil, ibmetimes
fandy, yet rendered fertile by the incredible induftxy o f the inhabitants
; even the higher hills are cultivated to the very
tops.
In my account o f the objeils o f their labor, and the botanical
produtSlions, I lhall follow that able naturalifl: and traveller Dodlor
Thunberg, who vifited this empire in 1775, and even had the
happinefs o f making a journey to its capital Jedo; as yet we have
only been favored by him with the Flora o f the country * ; I lhall
not purfue the brief account o f the vegetable produ&ionsfyitema-
tically, but clafs them as Dotftor Thunberg has done, according to
theirufes. Japan has been fortunatein having been vifited in 1699
by Doilor Engelbert Kaempfer, one of the ableft haturalifts and
fcholars o f his time. His Amcenitates exotica, and his travels into
this empire, render any other eulogium fuperfluous. He will
* A tranilation o f his travels was publiihed in 1795, two years after this account o f Japan
was compofed. E.
be
be frequently quoted in . the enfuing pages, as (ranking with
Dodlor Thunberg.) my beft authorities.. i
T h e firft clafs comprehends the vegetables o f ufe in medicine..
Rofmarinus officinalis, Flora Japónica, 22. FI. Cocb. 34. Sp. pi. i.
60. Gerard, 1292., cultivated here, a! native o f Spain, Italy, and the
Levant, introduced poffibly by the Portuguefe.
N. B.— Such Ipecies which are peculiar to Japan, have not the
mark Sp. pi. o f Linnteus affixed.
Urtica nivea-, 71. Rumpb. Amb. tab. 79. f. 1. Sp. pi. 4. 153.
FI. Coch.T)83. Kacmpf. slmona. v. p. 891. A Cauftic oil is expreffed
from the feeds; the bark .isbufed. to. make ropes, and the itrong
threads for weaving.. '
Fagarapiperita, 64. Sp. pi. i. 333. Kaempf Amoen. v. p. 892.
P- 893. FI. Cocb. 101. The bark, leaves, and berries aromatic,
and ufed Inftead of pepper; the leaves' ground, mixed with rice
flour, .and formed into a poultice, ferve as a blifter in rheu-
matifms.
Ipomcea triloba:, Ufa. Sp. ph i. p. 4 s 1, Kaempf. Amoen. v. p.
856,
. Nkotiana. tabacum, 91. Sp. pi. i. p. 502. The plant, as the
name imports, introduced by the Portuguefe, alfo the ule.
Sium ninfi, 118. Sp. pi. i. 694, Kaempf Amoen. v. p. 818. fig. p.
819. The higheft cordial in all Jap««, and the deareit; the root is
brought from Korea, and ufed in moil medicines pulverifed; a
pound coils fix hundred imperials.
Lycium barbarum, 94. Sp. pi. i. 525. Kaempf. Amoen. v. p. 777.
FI. Cocb. 165. Theleaves are adminiilered to the fickastea; phy-
ficians prefcribe the eating the fru it; the plant is ufed to inclofe
the fegments of the Japanefe gardens.
Cbeno-
M e d ic a l ,