in the Year 1835, in reference to the Physiology of Plants. 163 



of Panicum miliaceum* 4*37 per cent, of a green fat oil, 2 per 

 cent, of which was contained in the pericarp, and 2*37 per 

 cent, in the albuminous body. Millet, therefore, in this re- 

 spect surpasses the oat and rice. 



Th. Martius f found in the seeds of Strychnos Nux vomica 

 0*5 per cent, of an oil soluble in alcohol. The fat from the 

 seeds of the East Indian species ofBassia, B.latifolia, butyrea, 

 longifolia, of the family of the Sapotea?, which belongs also here, 

 is, according to C. Henry :f, of a dirty yellow colour, and pos- 

 sesses an aromatic taste and smell. M. Koene extracted from 

 the roots of Anacyclus Pyrethrum § two fat oils, one of which 

 was soluble in oil of turpentine and alcohol, the other not. 

 In the above-mentioned investigation of the flowers of Nar- 

 cissus Jonquilla M. Robiquet also found an oil of some con- 

 sistency belonging to this division, smelling something like fish- 

 blubber. The albuminous body of Abies pectinata contains, 

 according to Zellerjj, a drying oil, soluble in alcohol, whose 

 spec. grav. was 0*913 ; and M.Wurzer found in the same organ 

 of Pinus pinea a fat oil, void of smell, and which did not dry 

 upif . J. Cockburn also found in the bark of the root of Cornus 

 florida** a fat oil soluble in alcohol and in aether. 



The acids are a class of vegetable substances which are as 

 widely diffused as the resins ; they have however occupied 

 the attention of chemists more than the latter, so that we are 

 scarcely able to give more than the newly-discovered occur- 

 rence of the most important acids in individual plants. Among 

 others, gallic acid was found by M. Aschoffff in the leaves of 

 Rhus Toxicodendron ; by Cockburn %\ in the bark of the roots 

 of Cornus for ida ; by Joh. Tilhgmann§$ in the roots of Ci- 

 micifuga racemosa; and by Proctor in the bark o{ Prunus vir- 

 giniana. 



It was formerly believed that the process of the formation 

 of mould increased the quantity of gallic acid, whence it might 

 be inferred that this acid was a product; the experiments of 

 Winckler||[| are opposed to this, although Aschoff states that 

 he found a far greater quantity of gallic acid in the mouldy 

 extract of the leaves of Toxicodendron than in the fresh sap. 



* Buchn. Repert., vol. lxix. f Ibid., vol. li. part Hi. 



X Journ. de Pharm., Oct. 1835. 



§ Ann. de Chim. et de Pht/s., July 1835. || Archiv fur Pharm., vol. iii. 

 <fl Buchn. Repert. , vol. xlix. p. 303. 

 «• The American Journ. of Phann., July 1835. 

 ft Archiv fur Pharm. vol. i. part 2. 

 H The American Journ. of Pharm., July 1835. 

 §§ Journ. de Chim. Med. 1834. November. 

 || Buchn. Report., vol. li. 



Y 2 



