A letter from James Simons in London, England discussing soldiers suffering from dysentery, the skills but unsuccess of the attending surgeon, and asking for help from an "old negroe woman" who provided a remedy for the disease and Col. Gordon "had not lost a slave with it since she had attended the plantation hospital." The letter goes on stating that the French name for the plant is "Zezegery," resembles mint, how the plant is used, and the improvement of the soldiers. The other side of the letter written by James Simons states that a man from Jamaica identified the plant as the "Binnea" which is "cultivated in almost every plantation in this country by our negroes for their own use."