184 Scientific Intelligence. 



The gaseous matter obtained from the first three waters, consisted of 

 l-10th carbonic acid gas, and 9-10ths atmospheric air. That from the 

 open river contained only l-20th of carbonic acid. The above waters, 

 when submitted to examination, had a temperature of 55° Far. — Brande's 

 Journal. 



16. Substances which accompany Caoutchouc when obtained from the Tree 

 in the state of Sap. — A specimen of the pure sap, from the southern part 

 of Mexico, yields, according to Mr Faraday, 



Caoutchouc, - - 317..0 



Albuminous precipitate, - - 19.0 



Peculiar bitter colouring matter, a highly azotatetl substance, » 

 Wax, ... J 71 ' 3 



Substance soluble in water, not in alcohol, - 29.0 



Water, acid, &c. - - - 563.7 



1000 

 Brande's Journal. 



17. On the A r ature of Picrotoxine and Menispermic Acid.-— In an analy- 

 sis to which M. Boullay subjected the berries of the Menispermum coccu- 

 lus, that chemist succeeded in separating a peculiar crystallizable princi- 

 ple which, from its bitter poisonous qualities, he called picrotoxine, and 

 regarded it as a vegetable alkali similar to morphia and kina. He at the 

 same time detected the presence of what he conceived to be a new acid, to 

 which he gave the name of menispermic acid. As some doubt remained 

 as to the accuracy of this analysis, M. Casaseca has made an examination 

 of the berries, and arrived at these conclusions : 



1. That the menispermic acid does not exist. 



2. That the properties attributed to the menispermic acid, and which in- 

 duced M. Boullay to regard it as a new vegetable acid, arc owing to a mix- 

 ture of sulphuric acid with organic matter. 



3. That the picrotoxine does not possess alkaline properties, and there- 

 fore ought not to be regarded as a vegetable alkali, but as a peculiar bitter 

 principle. 



M. Boullay, in reply, confesses, on the authority of Vauquelin, that his 

 menispermic acid is a mixture of sulphuric and malic acids, coloured by 

 vegetable matter. He also admits that picrotoxine has no alkaline reac- 

 tion, and cannot neutralize an acid. M. Casaseca is therefore quite justi- 

 fied. The picrotoxine can, however, combine with acids, and forms crys- 

 tallizable compounds with the acetic and nitric acids. — Journal de Phar- 

 macie,for Feb. 1826. 



18. Prize Questions of the Parisian Society of Pharmacy for 1826. 



1st, To determine the essential phenomena which accompany the trans- 

 formation of organic substances into acetic acid during the act of fermen- 

 tation. 



2d, Is the formation of acetic acid always preceded by the production of 

 alcohol, in the same manner as the production of sugar precedes that of 

 alcohol in the vinous fermentation ? 



