466 INDIGENOUS SAGO AND TOBACCO FROM NEW GUINEA. 



The nature of the soil has of course much to do with the per- 

 centage of ash, as also of the ash-constituents ; no information 

 is forthcoming as to the soil on which the sample now under 

 examination was grown. 



Nicotine. 



The tobacco contains 1'8 per cent of Nicotine. 



The process adopted was that of Schlcesing, and consists in 

 exhausting the leaf with ammoniacal ether in a suitable apparatus. 

 The solvent is then evaporated, and the quantity of alkaloid 

 determined by observing the amount of standard sulphuric acid it 

 is capable of neutralising. 



