290 Jew Vegetable Principle in Asparagus. 
Since that period M. Robiquet and myself jointly sub- 
mitted this substance to new experiments, the principal of 
which are subjoined. The form which it assumes in its 
crystallization, according to M. Haiiy, to whom we sent a 
certain quantity, springs from a straight rhomboidal prism, 
the grand angle of the base of which is about 130 degrees. 
This substance is soluble in water in a middling degree, 
and its solution gives no sign of acidity or alkalinity : the 
infusion of galls, the acetate of lead, the oxalate of ammo- 
nia, the muriate of barytes, and the hydrosulphuret of pot- 
ash, cause no change in the solution of this substance ; and 
it is not soluble in alcohol. 
These experiments indicating that the substance in ques- 
tion is not a salt with an earthy base, we triturated a certain 
quantity of it with caustic potash and a little water, to see 
if ammonia was disengaged from it; but we discovered no 
sensible traces: the potash, as we thought, rendered it more 
soluble in water. 
Seeing, therefore, that it contained neither an earth nor 
any ammonia, we endeavoured to ascertain the existence of 
the alkalis in it, and for this purpose we burned a great 
quantity of it in a platina crucible; it swelled considerably, 
at first exhaling pungent vapours, which affected the eyes 
and nostrils like the smoke of wood; it furnished plenty of 
charcoal which had no taste, and which upon incineration 
left but a very imperceptible trace of earth, which 1s certainly 
foreign to it. 
Towards the end of the decompesition of this substance, 
the smell which is liberated from it is a little analogous to 
that of animal matters, and it is likewise a little ammoniacal. 
The nitric acid decomposes this substance; nitrous gas is 
disengaged ; the liquor assumes a yellow colour and a bitter 
taste like that of animal substances; when the action of the 
nitric acid is finished, lime is abundantly disengaged from 
the ammonia of the liquor. } 
This alkali, therefore, is formed during the operation we 
have related, since the substance of asparagus affords no per- 
ceptible traces of it before. 
This substance is not an acid, since it does not redden 
the 
