132. REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
The aqueous extract contains a body possessing all the properties of 
a gum. . 
The cellulose convertible to glucose by boiling a few hours with 2 per 
cent. sulphuric acid seems to be quite constant. In two experiments 
the plant, after extraction with ether, alcohol, and hot water, gave, on 
boiling 2 hours with 2 per cent. acid, 21 per cent. amylaceous cellu- 
lose; on boiling 4 hours with 3 per cent. acid, 22.1 per cent. 
The humic bodies include those substances soluble in ammonia water 
which are so little understood. 
Albuminoids were determined, as usual, with soda lime. 
The residue, after extracting the plant with ether, alcohol, hot water, 
dilute acid, and ammonia and potath, has been tabulated as crude fiber, ~ 
: : ae ? 
and consists of cellulose, with a small amount of coloring matter. 
The ash amounts in the specimen examined to only 2.1 per cent. of the 
dry substance, while Vaquelin found as much as 3 per cent. in the same 
plant when he examined it. This is undoubtedly owing to varied condi- 
tions of growth. 
As a commercial substance the plant seems to possess no greater 
value than its present use as a fiber in cushions, packing, &e. Yor fer- 
mentation it presents few desirable qualities, no starch being detectable. 
The amylaceous cellulose is the only available substance, and this is not 
present in an amount large enough to make its application to this pur- 
pose profitable. 
ANALYSIS OF THE REINDEER MOSS, CLADONIA RANGIFERINA., 
An analysis of a specimen of this lichen gave the following results: 
Per cent. 
Yellow coloring matter 9.2220 sccwes concn cece ne ew wee cee n ne onan ne eons ce soe =e 2 
WsmiG ACid oe. oo ae oe cee ele ecole <cerlecwedslae == 3 elee mo ale= = =e =e 2.9 
Organic acid, insoluble in ether .... ..0-2. 2-00 2 oe noe meee ce ene ee nnn = ene nee ones 4.7 
(CUTTS 35.5 5 ae so Seer Bato) Sotieds Caeser poss bSes Sotg seSace cede socscctes. ssc: 1.0 
EPOMIC SUDSUANCES) ene ses esc -eslone soe ssc cee eee = see = oem eee ele a eee aR 
J SI Simm Rigs A aesee sor ebe ec ebeoeysecDce Sos bS5a09 SsSaneauseEseisSesscsase 3.6 
GTHde POL <2 <-osicwccae ccs seclses cee osces evan vlesseeclesw cles = seo === f= eae 5.6 
JN] te ee Eee Seep IODC COCISOH SHaaod SaaseGscc catactiis 1.0 
Lichenin, moss starch (by diff.) .-..-.---. aces 200 anes ance cone een = sane = ane ee 
100.0 
An ether extract of the plant contains the yellow coloring matter and _ 
the usnic acid. The former is separated from the acid by its greater 
solubility in cold ether. The usnic acid which separates from ether 
and alcohol in fine sulphur-yellow crystals melts at 200° C., and thus 
corresponds with that of most observers, not, however, with the acid ex- 
tracted by Stenhouse from this plant, and called by him # usnie acid, 
or cladonic acid, and which melted at 175°. It seems from the various ob- 
servations that have been made, that the composition of the acid present 
is very variable at different periods of the plant’s growth, at times being 
entirely absent, as found by Stenhouse (Liebig’s Annalen 155B 55S). 
The specimen under examination was collected in Sweden in 1866, 
and is consequently pretty old, but in the form in which it is appli¢d in 
that country to fermentation for the production of spirit from the large 
amount of lichenin (moss starch) which it contains. 
After the extraction with ether, 80 per cent. alcohol takes out with 
some difficulty about 4.7 per cent. of a mixture of organic acids, sepa- 
rable approximately by their varying solubilities in alcohol and petro- 
leum naphtha. They were not more minutely investigated. Water ex- 
tracts a small amount of gummy matter, and after extraction of lichenin 
