14 JOURNAL OF THE 



[Reprinted from The Journal of Analytical Chemistry, 

 Vol. IV, Part 2. April, 1890.] 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF BORACIC ACID AMONG 



PLANTS. 



BY J. S. CALLISON. 



Attention was first drawn to the possibility of boracic acid 

 occurring as a normal constituent in certain plants by its discov- 

 ery in normal California wine. 



Baumert"^ first drew attention to this in 1885, and his results 

 were confirmed by Rising"]" and Crampton.J 



These observations were extended to other vines by Baumert,§ 

 Soltsein|| and Ripper.T[ 



It was shown by Baumert and Ripper, especially, to be almost 

 invariably present in wines of all countries, in the stalks, and 

 even in the wild vine (Soltsein). As Crampton says, '^ There 

 can no longer be any question, therefore, in view of this mass of 

 evidence, that boracic acid is a normal and frequently occurring 

 constituent of the grape plant/' He then asks the question, if 

 boracic is so universal a constituent of the grape plant, why not 

 of other plants as well? In answering this question he exam- 

 ined certain plants, as the peach, water-melon, apple, sugar-beet 

 and sugar-cane. Thinking this distribution of boracic acid to 

 be a question of decided importance, I have extended the exan^i- 

 nation, to many other ashes than those mentioned by Crampton, 

 coming from other classes of plants than fruits, though including 

 also some of the fruits. 



The results of my work have confirmed the conclusions that 

 boracic acid is very widely distributed in the vegetable kingdom, 



*Land\v. Versuchstat. 33, 39-88. 



fReport of Sixth Viticultural Convention, 1888. 



JAmer. Chem. Journal, Vol. II, 227. 



^Zeitsclirift fur Naturwissencliaften, 1887, and Ber. d. deutsch. Chem. Ges. 21, 3290. 



llPharmaoeutische Zeitnng 33, No. 42, p. 312. 



fVVeinbau und Weinhandel: Organ des deutschen VVeinbauvereins, No. 36, 1888. 



