1847,] An easy method of preparivg Behdine. 63 



The popular descriptions of plants and those details of history 

 and of narrative which constitute a larger part of the literature of 

 botany has been entirely omitted. This is an interesting part of 

 the subject, but it seerns that the work would have become too vo- 

 luminous if this interesting part had been superadded to the more 

 technical details which have been furnished. 



In conclusion, then, we will not complain of the natural system. 

 Neither will we complain of the rigid technicality the exact termin- 

 ology in which the book is dressed ; or of the dry and naked descrip- 

 tions of sepals, carpels, involucres, corymbs, acheniums, ovaries, 

 cotyledons, pericarps, raeiicarps, mesocarps, etc., by which we are 

 brought to the object sought, the indentiiication of a species, and 

 by which too the exact indentiiication only of species and genera 

 can be secured. 



AN EASY METHOD OF PREPARING BETULINE. 



Place a roll of white birch bark upon a plate of iron, whose 

 temperature is sufficiently hot to char white paper, and it will be 

 covered in a short time with a white frosting, which under the 

 microscope will be seen to consist of beautiful and splendid crys- 

 tals of Betuline. If the bark remains an hour or two, the crys- 

 tals will continue to sublime, when they will form delicate tufts, 

 finely radiating or forming clusters of crystals, some of which 

 will be half an inch in length. The substance is, as stated by 

 Lowry its discoverer, insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol, 

 ether and oil. The odor emited by burning bark resembles that 

 of benzoic acid. A yellow volatile oil sublimes, also, and a few 

 drops appear among the crystals. The Betuline exists ready 

 formed upon the bark in the form of a white powder, which on 

 being heated to about 280 or 300 degrees sublimes, and on cool- 

 ing is precipitated upon the bark in a position farther removed 

 from the hot plate. It is neither acid nor alkaline, so far as we 

 have observed, and is not soluble in boiling solutions of the car- 

 bonated alkalies. 



How TO Keep Smoked Hams. — The best method for keeping 

 hams is, after they are smoked, to put them back into the pickle 

 and the smoky taste is preserved as perfectly as when put in 

 ashes or kept in a dry place. 



Quinine in the Urine and Blood. — Quinine may be detected 

 in the blood and urine of patients who have taken it for some 

 time. It gives a bitter taste to the serum of the blood. 



