Tagua Nut, or Vegetable Ivory. 105 



Hard woody fibre 76*5 



Vegetable albumen 1'5 



Bitter matter soluble in water and alcohol . 2 # 5 



Gum with phosphate of lime 5'5 



Ashes 0'5 



Moisture 13-5 



100- 



The leading differences between this result and my own, I 

 believe, proceed from the azotized principles of vegetables 

 having been more fully studied by chemists since the above 

 analysis was made. 



I employed in my examination the fine turnings of the ve- 

 getable ivory, which I obtained from one of the workmen in 

 London who was engaged in carving it. These turnings took 

 fire when heated and burned with flame, leaving a little white 

 ash. They did not yield oil when pressed between heated 

 metallic plates, but in the course of the analysis some fixed 

 oil was procured by solvents. No volatile oil was obtained 

 by distillation with water. 



The mode of analysis followed was the following : — The 

 powder was first comminuted as much as possible by friction 

 in a mortar. It was then well rubbed with successive portions 

 of cold water, which were left in contact with it for a night; 

 and the milky fluids were allowed to deposit whatever was 

 mechanically suspended. Ultimately the mass was strained 

 through thick muslin and the liquid allowed to subside; the 

 several solutions were then boiled, and a little coagulated ve- 

 getable albumen separated. 



A similar process of trituration was now repeated with suc- 

 cessive portions of boiling water, and subsidence allowed as 

 before. 



To the emulsions prepared with cold and hot water, acetic 

 acid was added. A speedy coagulation ensued and a certain 

 quantity of an azotized substance was obtained, which, from 

 the manner in which it was procured, as well as from its lead- 

 ing characters with solvents, was either identical with or 

 nearly allied to legumin or vegetable casein. 



By evaporating the liquid which had yielded the legumin 

 a quantity of gum was obtained. 



No other matter was extracted from the residue by boiling 

 it for some time in a considerable quantity of water. 



The dried mass was then treated with hot alcohol, and by 

 evaporation a small quantity of yellow fixed oil was procured. 



Diluted caustic potash aided by a gentle heat took up no- 

 thing further; and diluted muriatic acid dissolved mere traces 



