36G ANNUAL KECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



America, and tried in cases of cholera, for which it would 

 seem applicable 14^1, October, 1872, 321. 



LITHIUM IN PLANTS. 



By means of the spectroscope, lithium has been detected in 

 the ashes of many plants. Dr. Focke states that it is found 

 so constantly in some sp*ecies, especially of .the genera Thallc- 

 trum, Cardans, Cirshim, and /Salvia (meadow rue, thistles, 

 and sage), while other plants growing with them are wholly 

 free from it, that probably this substance is essential to their 

 perfect development. European and Columbian species of 

 tobacco may be distinguished from those of North America 

 and Brazil by the very much larger proportion of lithium in 

 their composition. Abhandl. Qiat.Verein zti Bremen^ 1872, 

 III., 251. 



AVAX ON PLANTS. 



According to Professor de Bary, the wax found in plants 

 is not a simple coating on the surface, as if laid on with a 

 brush, but consists of a dense forest of minute hairs of wax, 

 each having one end on the epidermis, the other, either rising 

 straight up, or rolled and curled among its neighbors. A 

 microscopic examination always reveals the true form. The 

 locality in which the wax is first detected is the entitle and 

 the elements of the epidermic cells, and not the slightest 

 trace is seen in the cell contents or in the chlorophyle. Certain 

 insects also appear to be coated with wintish hairs, but which 

 are, in reality, composed entirely of wax. 13 ^, July 1; 1872, 

 253. 



SALTPETER IN THE ELITE PLANT. 



According to Boutin, the dry leaves and stems of the plant 

 known as the Blite {Aniarantus hlitum), and one very com- 

 mon in the cultivated lands of Poitou, contain 11.68 per cent 

 of its entire weight of nitrate of j)otash or saltpeter. It 

 grows wild in various parts of France, and in the opinion of 

 the writer, if cultivated in good soil, would produce 7000 to 

 8000 pounds to the acre, which would represent, for the 

 same area, a quantity of nitrogen amounting to 112 to 145 

 pounds, and of potassa 350 to 450 pounds. It acquires its 

 entire growth in the course of two to three months, and has 



