7© 



THE JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY. 



dent, Dr. Edward Schunk, in speaking of organic coloring matter (Jour, 

 if the iSoc. of Che/11. Indus.), said that by the action of strong acids on 

 chlorophyll a certain product is obtained, and the action of alkali on this 

 product, in sealed tubes, leads to the formation of phylloporphyrin, a sub- 

 stance crystallizing in lustrous-red needles, which has remarkable proper- 

 ties. Treated in a similar manner, homoglobin yields an analogous sub- 

 stance— hematoporphyrin. Now, these substances, phylloporphyrin and 

 hematoporphyrin, resemble one another in several respects in a most re- 

 markable manner. Doth are red and give red solutions; both act the part 

 of weak bases toward strong acids; both when heated give off fumes of 

 pyrrol; the ethereal solutions of both show absorption-spectra of seven 

 bands, the intensity and relative position of which are in both cases abso- 

 lutely the same, the only difference being that in the case of hematopor- 

 phyrin the bands are slightly nearer the red end of the spectrum. As to 

 composition, too, the two substances approach one another, that of phyllo- 

 porphyrin being expressed by the formula C 16 H 18 N 2 0, that of hematopor- 

 phyrin, according to Nencki, by C 1C H 18 N 2 3 ; they differ, therefore, in the 

 amount of oxygen they contain. 



BOOK REVIEWS. 



The Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information of the Royal Botani- 

 cal Gardens of Trinidad, Volume IV r ., Part V., is devoted to the considera- 

 tion of two genera of the ferns of the British West Indies and Guiana, viz.. 

 Hymenophyllum and Trichomanes. The subject may at first appear rather 

 a strange one for investigation by an institution devoted to the subject of 

 economic botany, but, in consideration of the extensive use to which these 

 plants are put for decorative purposes and the great value of the trade in 

 them, it becomes quite as practical as those relating to foods, fibres or build- 

 ing materials. R. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture Reports. — The report of the bot- 

 anist of the United States Department of Agriculture, Mr. Frederick V. 

 Coville, for 1897, is full of interesting references to the work of the year. 

 The most important feature of the report is the evidence which it displays 

 of a useful application of science to practice. The principal topics referred 

 to are the investigation of new crops, the examination of the natural re- 

 sources of the country, the development of an economic herbarium, the 

 eradication or weeds, the investigation of poisonous plants, seed testing and 

 investigation, the support of the pure-seed movement and the study of the 

 American medicinal flora. The needs announced for the ensuing year are 

 those of a new building, of permanent trial grounds and of more assistance 

 in the I lepartment, all of which we sincerely trust may be fully met. "R. 



