JOHN GONZALVEZ DE, born at Madrid about the year 1478, was educated among the pages of Ferdinand king of Arragon and Isabella queen of Castile; and happened to be at Barcelona in 1493, when Christopher Columbus returned from his first voyage to the island Haiti, which he called Hispaniola, and which now goes by the name of St Domingo. He formed an intimate acquaintance with Columbus and his companions, and was at pains to inform himself of every thing relating to the new discoveries. He rendered such essential service to Spain during the war of Naples, that Ferdinand determined to send him to the island of Haiti, as intendant and inspector general of the trade of the New World. The ravages which the venereal disease had made during that war, induced him to inquire into what were the most efficacious remedies for this malady, which was supposed to have come from the West Indies. His inquiries were extended to every thing which regards the natural history of these regions; and, on his return to Spain, he published Summario de la Historia general y natural de las Indias Occidentales, which he dedicated to Charles V. He afterwards made some additions to this work, which he published under the title of La Historia general y natural de las Indias Occidentales; Salamanca, 1535, folio. It was translated into Italian, and afterwards into French; Paris, 1556, folio. In this work, Oviedo says that the French pox is endemic in the island of Haiti, and that it has passed from thence into Europe. He greatly extols the use of the wood of guaiacum for the cure of this disease; but whether the disease is now become more obstinate, or the remedy does not possess that efficacy which is ascribed to it, it is at present in little estimation.