80 [August, 1844. 



hundred feet. The trunk frequently rose sixty feet before it 

 branched ; the branches spread on each side 25 or 30 feet, and from 

 30 to 40 feet higher. They were densely clothed with foliage of a 

 rich and velvety green colour. The leaves measured from 10 to 

 16 inches in length, and 2 to 4 inches in breadth. The wood was 

 white, hard and very close grained, and the bark of the larger 

 branches was of a yellowish colour.* 



An analysis of the milk of the Palo de Vaca, was made in the 

 year 1823 by MM. Rivero and Boussingault, and published in the 

 23d vol. of the Annales de Chimie, of which the following is a sum- 

 mary : 



This vegetable milk possesses the same physical properties as 

 that of the cow, except in being rather viscid ; but in chemical pro- 

 perties it materially differs. 



It mixes readily with water in all proportions, is not curdled by 

 acids, and is rendered more liquid by ammonia, which latter cha- 

 racter shows the absence of caoutchouc — alcohol slightly coagulates 

 it. When fresh it slightly reddens turnsol. At the temperature of 

 100° Cent, it boils. When slightly coagulated by the alcohol, the 

 more liquid portion may be passed through a filter. This when 

 evaporated to the consistence of a syrup and treated with rectified 

 alcohol, developes a little sugar, but the greater part is insoluble. 

 The insoluble portion has a bitter taste, and by chemical manipu- 

 lation may be made to yield a salt of a magnesian character. 



Under the action of heat, the milk of the Palo de Vaca presents 

 at first the same phenomena as that of the cow. A pellicle is quick- 

 ly formed on the surface, which prevents the disengagement of 

 aqueous vapour. Upon the pellicle being raised as fast as formed, 

 and the evaporation continued carefully at a moderate heat, oily 

 drops begin to form ; these increase in proportion as the water is 

 driven off, and at length unite into an oily liquid, in which floats a 

 fibrous substance which shrivels up according as the temperature of 

 the oil increases. By proper measures the oily matter may be con- 

 verted into a substance of a yellowish white colour, solid, translucent, 

 resisting pressure, insoluble in water, soluble in hot alcohol and in 

 the essential oils, &c, and in fact resembling refined bees-wax, and 

 applicable to the same purposes. 



* Curtis' Botan. Mag., Vol. 13, new series. 



