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LXV. O-.i the C/umiccl Natv.re of Bliffhicd Corn. Ex- 

 tracted from a Memoir read at the Institute 30tk Fen- 

 demiaire. Year 1 2. £// Messrs. Fourcroy ai^d Vau- 



QUELIX*. 



J. HE blight in corn baj already engaged the attention of 

 many chemists. Parrn,entier found in it a foetid greasy 

 substance mixed with chircoal ; Cornette has discovtrcd 

 its oily nature ; and M. Girod-Chautrans has annotinced, 

 ill the year 12, the existence of an acid both free and com- 

 bined, which he conceived to be of a peculiar nature. 



It is Since this last discovery was announced to the In- 

 stitute by its author, towards the end of tlie year 12, that 

 M. Vauquelin and I applied ourselves to examine with ac- 

 curacy this diseased vegetable matter. 



The blight, it is known, is, in fact, a disease of the grain 

 which prcsems under the husk of the seed, where the fa- 

 rinaceous substance ought to be found, a black powder, 

 greasy and foetid, distinguished by the dangerous nuality 

 of intecting other grain by contact, and communicating to 

 it the property of growing up blighted. The most effectual 

 means of destroying the contagion, and preventing the dis- 

 ease from re-appearing, is, to \\ash the grain with lime 

 water, or an alkaline solution : without This precaution, 

 which is now in general use among all well-informed hus- 

 bandmen, the disease is uniformly reproduced. 



The blighted grain on which our experiments were made 

 was furnished by M. Girod-Chautrans, whose zeal for 

 the advancement of science, and enlightened love of na- 

 tural history, arc well known. 



When pounded in a mortar of flint, and separated from 

 its husk, the blight communicated to hot alcohol a greenish 

 yellow colour, but no acid property ; and there was sepa- 

 rated a dark grt^n oily matter of the consistence of butter, 

 and acrid like rancid fat. Ether, also, produced the sepa- 

 ration of the same oil. 



The substance, after being thus acted on by the alcohol, 

 still preserved its greasy feel, and its peculiar odour of sea- 

 ware. When washed with five times its weight of boiling 

 •water, the wat( r asiumed a reddish brown colour, a foetid 

 odour„ somewhat of a soapy quality, and a decidedly acid 

 character. When examined by different appropriate re- 

 agents, the acid was proved to be the phosphoric. 



From Aiir.aks du Murium d'llistoire Ncturellc, No. 35. 



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