1881.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



163 



are observed others rather darker in 

 color, opaque, and without the starch, 

 but appearing very finely granular 

 and containing, as will be seen, oil in 

 place of starch. 



These are all the structures found 

 in some ground pepper berries. In 

 pure ground " white pepper " the epi- 

 dermal cells and scales (Figs, i, 2, 3, 

 4), the pulp-cells and oil-cells 

 (Figs. 5, 6) and the woody and 

 spiral tissues (Figs. 7, 8) should 

 be almost entirely absent, and only 

 the seed-coat and starch-bearing cells 

 (Figs. 9, 10) should be found. 



Having learned the structure of 

 the pepper berry, as seen in the 

 ground dry berries, in which condi- 

 tion alone adulteration is to be 

 feared, to determine the proportion 

 of each of the structures found, and 

 their relations to each other, sections 

 of the berry must be cut, for which 

 purpose some are soaked in warm 

 water until they swell and become, 

 although not restored to their natural 

 shape, soft enough to be easily cut. 

 And this takes much more time than 

 would be expected, at least twelve 

 hours being required to soften the 

 berries of good pepper, picked and 

 cured in the proper season. On 

 stripping off the epidermis from a 

 soaked pepper berry and examining 

 .it in water and glycerin, with a ^- 



inch objective, it is found to be com- 

 posed of two or three, and in places 

 four or more, layers of angular cells, 

 irregularly arranged (Fig. 3), filled 

 with granular contents and of a pale 

 brownish color, overlaid with a thin, 

 hyaline, structureless, outer mem- 

 brane. Neither potash or nitric acid 

 materially change the appearance of 

 the cells or their contents otherwise 

 than as to color. By taking a section 

 of a soaked berry we find the pulp to 

 be about half the diameter of the 

 seed in thickness, and in young ber- 

 ries picked before the seed has hard- 

 ened, often as thick as the seed. 

 Within the outer skin of the berry is 

 a thick layer of pulp-cells with oil- 

 cells interspersed, as in Fig. 5 ; they 

 are somewhat more swollen and 

 rounded than those figured, but 

 otherwise they do not differ in ap- 

 pearance. Next, in a section trans- 

 verse to the axis of the stem, are 

 seen the ends of the woody cells and 

 spiral vessels (Fig. 7), and in a sec- 

 tion parallel to the axis of the stem 

 these are shown in bands, chiefly 

 running from stem to calyx. Within 

 the layer of spiral vessels is another 

 layer of cells not so thick as the 

 layer of pulp-cells (Fig. 5), but com- 

 posed of larger and more rounded 

 cells, thinner and more transparent 

 than the oil-bulbs of the outer layer, 



Description of Plate II. 



Fig. 1. — Epidermis of pepper berry, in turpentine, X 73. 

 " 2. — Fragments of the hyaline cuticle, X 73. 

 " 3. — Epidermis of soaked berry, in water, X 250. 

 " 4. — The dry epidermis in potash solution, X 73. 



5. — Pulp-cells with oil-glands, in turpentine, X 73. 

 " 6.— Oil-glands, in water, a X 73, ^ and c X 250. 

 " 7. — Woody cells and spiral vessels, in water, X 250, a air bubbles. 

 " 8. — Same in several layers, in water, X 73, a cells, b ideal section. 

 " 9.— Cells of the hard coat of the seed, X 73. 

 " 10.— Cells of the seed, with starch, a X 73, -5 X 250. 

 " 11. — Section of seed and shell treated with potash, X 73, <? oil-cells opaque, 



b same cleared by potash showing oily contents, c and d outer and 



inner membranes of seed-shell. 

 " 12. — Section of seed (one half) in water, X 73, a epidermis, b pulp-cells and 



oil-glands, <: woody and spiral vessels, d oil-cells,^ outer membrane, _/ 



inner membrane of seed-shell, g shell of seed, h starch bearing cells of 



cotyledon with oil-cells. 

 " 13. — Thin shaving of buckwheat in turpentine, a X 250, b 73. 



