Diu Stenhouse on Divi-divi, 4li 



with nitrogen and superabundant air, into the bent tube, o, g. The 

 steam there comes into contact with the tube / containing cold water, 

 and is condensed, while the excess of air and the nitrogen escape into 

 the atmosphere by the spaces at / ^r. In half-an-hour a considerable 

 quantity of water is collected at the knee, e. 



This apparatus is a modification of that contrived by MM. Danger 

 and Flandin, for the detection of arsenic. When arseniuretted hydrogen 

 gas is burnt with this apparatus, solid arsenious acid is deposited in the 

 tube, c, 0, and a solution of arsenious acid collected at the knee, e, in 

 the bent tube. 



The method of separating vapours from incondensible gases, by 

 means of the cold water tube, / can often be advantageously employed 

 by the practical chemist ; as, for example, when digesting substances 

 in a flask with aqua regia, alcohol, and other volatile solvents. 



22rf Marchy 1842,— r^e President in the Chair, 



John Campbell, Esq. admitted a member. 



The report of the publishing committee was taken into considera- 

 tion, tlieir recommendations adopted, and a committee appointed to 

 carry them into effect. 



The following communications were made : — 



XV. — Notice ofDivi-divi. By John Stenhouse, Ph.D. 



Tms substance, by some called Divi-divi, by others Libi-divi, has 

 of late years been imported into this country from Carthagena in con- 

 siderable quantities. It is the pod of a leguminous shrub, which grows 

 to the height of between twenty and thirty feet Professor Balfour 

 informs mo that its botanical name is Caesalpinia Coriaria. It is a 

 native of South America, and is noticed by Dr. M'Fadyen in his Flora 

 of Jamaica, as occurring in that island. The pods of this shrub, which 

 form the Divi-divi of commerce, are of a dark brown colour, nearly three 

 inches long, and about half-an-inch broad. They are very much 

 curled up as if they had been strongly dried; and contain a few 

 small flatish seeds. The taste of Divi-divi is higlily astringent and 

 bitter. The astringent matter of the Divi-divi is contained only in the 

 outer rind of the pod; the inner skin enclosing the seeds is white and 

 nearly tasteless. The pods are often perforated with small holes, 

 evidently the work of some insect The aqueous solution of Divi-divi 

 gives a copious precipitate with gelatine, and strikes a deep blue with 

 per salts of iron. It contains a good deal of tannin, and also some 

 gallic acid, accompanied by a great deal of mucilage. Crystals of gallic 

 acid may easily be obtained from Divi-divi by precipitating the tannin 



