80 



REPOKT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



States, and even so far west as Kansas. Little doubt remains as to its 

 being identical with tbe fungus commonly sold in China as an article of 

 food, under the reported names "fuh-bng, pe-fuh-ling,"* or "pu-fuh- 

 liDg."t 



Fliickiger cautious against confounding it with the root of Smilax 

 China ("China root") which also grows in our Southern States, and is 

 Known in China as " tu-fuh-liug." 



In Virginia it is said to be commonly known as " Indian bread," or 

 " Nigger-head." The scientilic names assigned by various writers are 

 quite numerous. That given by Fries, Fachyma cocos, seems most 

 widely accepted at present. Torrey, who made the first chemical ex- 

 amination, described it as SderoUum giganteum. 



Among other names are the following : Fachyma solidum, Oken; P. 

 coniferarum, Horaninou ; Lycopordon cervimim, Walter ; L. solidum, Gro- 

 novius ; t^idcrotlum cocoSy Schwienitz. 



The first careful chemical examination of tuckahoe was made by Prof. 

 John Torrey, in 1819.| He found the fungus to consist almost entirely 

 of a hitherto uudescribed substance — not starch — which had the x)rop- 

 erty of forming a jelly when heated with water and allowed to cool. To 

 this substance he assigned the name " sclerotin." Tlie later researches 

 of Braconnot on the jelly-forming constituents of fruits and tubers were 

 published in 1824,§ and led to the adoption of the term "pectous sub- 

 stances." In 182711 Torrey republished his original article with addi- 

 tions, and demonstrated that the substance he had named "sclerotin" 

 was identical with the "pectic acid" of Braconnot. In this conclusion, 

 he was certainly correct, as this gelatinous substance deports itself ex- 

 actly like i^ectic acid, as described in the standard text-books on proxi- 

 mate analysis.^! 



In 1875 an analysis was made at the Bussey Institute.** In this an- 

 alysis the gelatinous substance is spoken of as pectose. In most re- 

 spects the analysis there made agrees very closely with the one here re- 

 ported, trifling differences are to be ascribed to the examination of 

 different samples. 



Froximaie analysis of "TuclcaJioe." 



Pacbyma cocos, Fries. 



Constituents. " 



Moisture at 110° C 



Ash ■-• 



Albuminoids, soluble in alcohol not iu water 

 Albuminoids, tioluble in water not in alcohol 

 Carbohydrates : 



Tannin, like substance, soluble in w-ater 



Gu))i 



Pectio acid, by ditTerence 



fatty substaiico, soluble in gasoline 



Crude cellulose 



Department of 

 Agriculture. 



28) 

 515 



25) 



20V7I 



4;^i 



.79 



5, 



100, 



Bussey 

 Institute. 



14. 51 



.24 



1.38 



73.73 



.34 



9.80 



00 



100. 00 



* Fliickiger and Hanbury's Phaimacographia, 2d ed., p. 714, note 2. 



t Rev. IM. J. Berkeley " On Some Tnberiform Vegetable Prodnctionafrom China," uo.- 

 ticed in Amer. Jonr. Sci. Arts, 2d series, vol. xxvii, p. 438 (1859). 



t Med. Repository, N. Y., vol. vi, 37, 34 (1821). 



(^ Ann. Cbim. Pbys., xxviii, 173 (1824); others in Gmeliu'a ILiudboolc, xv, 401. 



II Med. audPbysical Jonrnal, vi., 484 (1827). 



1[Prescott'3 P'rox. Org. Anal., p. IG'J; Gnielin's Handbook, xv., 403; Watt'a Diet, 

 Cheui., iv, .3()6. 



** Bulletin of the Bussey Institute, 1875, p. 370. 



