Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 543 



cipitated in tine yellow flocculi by hydrochloric acid from the hot so- 

 lution ; this is separated by the filter ; the filtered liquid deposits 

 crystals of opianic acid on cooling. This method of separation, how- 

 ever, is not sufficient, for as xanthopenic acid is soluble in hot water, 

 there always remains some mixed with the opianic acid, which cry- 

 stallizes and seems to remain combined with it, so that the properties 

 of the latter are so much modified, that M. Wohler was inclined to 

 believe at first that the mixture was a new and distinct acid. The 

 opianic acid instead of appearing in small prisms is deposited in 

 small mammillated masses, of a fine uranium yellow colour ; this 

 property is always communicated to it when it contains foreign 

 bodies ; it does not alter even by repeated crystallizations. 



It was soon found by M. Wohler that this substance was opianic 

 acid coloured by xanthopenic acid, but in so small a quantity that the 

 composition of the salts of lead and silver was not altered by it ; it 

 is readily obtained colourless by employing hypochlorite of soda. 



M. Wohlei", on account of the small quantity which he possessed, 

 was able to examine xanthopenic acid but imperfectly. When pre- 

 cipitated by an acid it is in yellow flocculi, which when dried is a 

 yellow powder, presenting a crystalline appearance when examined 

 by the microscope. It is fusible, dissolves in the alkalies with a yel- 

 low colour, and treated with a mixture of lime and soda, it yields 

 ammonia. 



Opiammon dissolves readily in hot caustic ammonia, and when the 

 solution is saturated by hydrochloric acid, colourless opianic acid 

 only is separated, and it appears that no xanthopenic acid is formed 

 by the action of ammonia. 



Opiammon, treated with an excess of liquid caustic potash, yields 

 nearly three-fourths of the whole quantity of azote in the state of 

 ammonia, by the influence of the alkali, and is changed into opianic 

 and xanthopenic acid, containing one-fourth of the azote of the opi- 

 ammon. — Ann. de Ch. et de Phys., October 1844. 



Examination of the Seeds q/" Phytelephas niacrocarpa and micro- 

 carpa. By M. von Baumhauer. 



M. Baumhauer has submitted the seeds of the above tree*, which 

 have been for some time brought from Peru into the European market, 

 to a chemical examination. On account of their hardness and snow- 

 white colour, for which they have been applied in various ways to 

 turning, they have been called vegetable ivory. In the unripe state, 

 Ruiz and Pavon state that they are eaten by the Peruvians. The 

 juicy stone-fruits are crowded together on a common stalk; they are 

 angular, containing four seeds ; each seed is surrounded with horny 

 albumen. The walls of the cells are composed of a hard rind, which 

 are generally still attached to the fruit as it occurs in commerce. 



Payen, in his memoir on cellulose, has already analysed the seed- 

 coats of the Phytelephas, after treating them with aether, alcohol, 



* [Mr. Connell's examination of these seeds will be found at p. 104, vol. xxiv. 

 —Ed.] 



