52 Chemical Examinaiion of the Pollen 



There was a sufficient quantity of it (nearly 10 ounces) 

 to make a very extensive chemical examination; and it 

 was the first time that a similar occasion in modern che- 

 mistry had occurred of analysing this interesting substance. 

 It brought to my recollection what I had seen sixteen years 

 ago, in consequence of the kindness of M. Tessier, who 

 then sent me a small quantity of the pollen of flax. I re- 

 member that the experiments made in my laboratory at this 

 period, when the means of analysis were not so perfect as 

 they are now, had been so unsatisfactory that I did not 

 think it worth while to publish them. On the present occa- 

 sion everv circumstance concurred to induce me to profit by 

 the opportunity : — the zeal and attention of M. Delille, who 

 had furnished ine with a rare and well-preserved production, 

 and which had never been anaUsed ; the hope of discover- 

 inor, vvith the help of well-known reagents, properties en- 

 tirely unknown hitherto in a substance so important in its 

 effects ; the abundance of the quantity, which admitted of 

 my multiplying and varying the experiments in order to 

 ascertain its chemical nature ; and, lastly, the perfection 

 which we have attained in the analysis of organic com- 

 pounds. 



I could not be guided in my experin)ents by any preceding- 

 analysis, because from what we formerly knew of the pollen of 

 the antherae we were forced to consider it, according to some 

 ideas of Reaumur, as a kind of concrete oily substance like 

 the first matter of beeswax. I associated in these researches 

 my friend M. Vauquelin, to whom I have been allied by a 

 similarity of pursuits for a great number of years. Our 

 readers will find that our expcrinients afforded us results 

 which nothing could induce us to foresee or suspect. 



§ II. Picliiniuary Experiments. 

 ■ Before proceeding to the exact analysis of this dust, we 

 thought it necessary to try some preliminary experiments, 

 in order to ascertain the general nature of it, and to direct 

 more certainly our progress in the details of the analysis. 

 The following are the first general properties which present- 

 ed themselves : 



I. The 



