441 



100° C. for forty-eiglit hours, it gave tlic following results on proximate 

 analysis : 



Glucose, (fruit sugar) 7.3828 



Albuminoid miitter 0.2168 



Woody fiber aud cellular tissue G2.4004 



100.0000 



The compositiou of the root will probably vary with the season of 

 •the year, and perhaps with the soil in which it grows. 



Three samples of sumac leaves were sent to the Department, in which 

 it was required to determine the amount of tannin, No. 1 is sumac (so 

 called) grown upon elevated, dry lands, near Oampo, San Diego, Cali- 

 fornia, and No. 2 grew upon low, moist land in the same locality. These 

 samples were sent by A. M. Gass. A third sample (No. 3) was sent by 

 Mr. Clarke Irvine, from Oregon, Holt County, Missouri. 



The analyses resulted as follows : 



No. 1. 



Tannic acid 13.1 



Woody fiber, cellular tissue 86.9 



100.0 



No. 2. 



Tannic acid ...» 7.92 



Woody fiber, &c 92.08 



lOO.OO 



No. 3. 



Tannic acid 28.075 



Woody fiber, &c 76.925 



100.000 



Samples No. 1 and No. 2 were collected at different times in the 

 season, with a view to determine the best time in the season to collect 

 them, or, in other words, to determine at what point in the development 

 of the leaves they contain the largest amount of tannic acid. We were 

 unable to make any determination of this kind, however, since, as we 

 have intimated above, we had some doubts as to whether they were 

 leaves of the same species of plants, and indeed whether they were 

 true sumac. We therefore consulted the botanist of the Department,, 

 who reported upon them as follows: ,v * 



The specimens 'of leaves marked No. 1 are undoubtedly those of StypJionia integrlfo- 

 lia, Nutt. A sniall tree growing near the sea-coast in Southern California, and forming 

 dense thickets. It belongs to the same natural order (Aniacardiacew) as the sumacs, 

 but differs from them in several particulars. It does not have the pinnate leaves which 

 characterize most of the sumacs, but its leaves are simple, thick, aud leathery, one to 

 two ixiches long. The bark is said to exude an astringent resinous gum. 



The leaves marked No. 2 are too much broken up for identification, but are evidently 

 not of the same species as No. 1. 



The sample from Missouri is Ehus glabra, or true sumac, and contains 

 a fair percentage of tannic acid. 



SciENTrFic NOTES. — Sulpkur. — The use of sulphur to destroy para- 

 sitic growths, both animal and vegetable, is of high antiquity and of 

 almost universal adoption; but just how sulphur operates in i^roduqing 

 the marked results which commonly follow its use is a question which 



