1818.] the Commencement of the Year 1817. Parti. 39 



10. Juice of Carrots. — Laugier has observed that when the 

 juice of carrots is subjected to fermentation, manna, in the state 

 of crystals, makes its appearance in it. — (Jour de Phys. lxxxv. 

 472.) 



1 1 . Potatoes. — Vauquelin has subjected a great many different 

 varieties of potatoe to analysis. The juice procured from the 

 root by expression was the particular object of his research ; and 

 in this he has detected the following substances : 



1 . Albumen of a black colour. 



2. Citrate of lime. 



3. Asparagin. 



4. A bitter aromatic resin. 



5. Phosphate of potash and phosphate of lime. 



6. Citrate of potash and citric acid. 



7. A peculiar animal matter. 



{Jour, de Phys. lxxxv. 113; and Annals of Philosophy , ix.430.) 



12. Almonds. — The emulsive seeds have been thought to con- 

 sist principally of a mixture of starch and fixed oil. M. Vogel, 

 however, has lately discovered that the bitter almond contains no 

 starch but albumen, or a substance analogous to curd, in the 

 proportion of 30 per cent. This interesting discovery has been 

 confirmed by the result of an examination of the sweet almond 

 by M. Boullay ; and it is not improbable that the other emulsive 

 seeds are similarly circumstanced. — (Schweigger's Jour. xx. 59; 

 Journ. Pharm. Aug. 1817 ; Annals of Philosophy, ix. 426.) 



13. Copper as a Constituent of the Ashes of Plants. — Bucholz 

 and Proust announced a good many years ago that they had 

 detected copper in the ashes of certain plants. Very lately 

 Dr. W. Meissner, an apothecary in Halle, made a set of experi- 

 ments on the same subject. He detected traces of copper in 

 the ashes of the following seeds : 



and the roots of 



Grana Paradisi, 

 Cardomomum minus; 



Curcuma longa, 

 Galanga ; 



but the quantity is so small that it is by no means easy to dis- 

 cover its existence at all. He found the action of the galvanic 

 battery to be the most unequivocal means of detecting the 

 presence of that metal when it exists in very small quantity in a 

 mixed mass. — (Schweigger's Journal, xvii. 340.) 



XII. ANIMAL SUBSTANCES. 



1. Nourishing Properties of Substances destitute of Azote. — 

 Most of my readers are probably acquainted with the very 

 curious experiments made some time ago by M. Magendie, in 

 Paris. He fed dogs on sugar, allowing them no other nourish- 



