Prof. G. Gulliver on Raphides. 509 



matter : incinerated afterwards, the little ash left is chiefly 

 silica. 



" 3. Leaf of Colocasia antiquorum. — Burnt, it leaves a good deal 

 of white ash, which, before the blowpipe, shines with a bright 

 white light. The ash consists principally of lime, with a trace of 

 phosphate of lime. The raphides, I infer, consist of oxalate of 

 lime : they are not dissolved by dilute acetic acid. 



" 4. Officinal Veratrum album. — The central or pithy part seems 

 to contain but few raphides, but many large starch-granules ; the 

 outer, firmer (liber ?), contains more raphides, but not numerous; 

 the starch-granules there are very small ; the black cortex con- 

 tains very few indeed of the former, and none of the latter. A 

 portion of the whole yields but little ash : the ash shines with a 

 red light when strongly heated. It contains a little phosphate of 

 lime, and lime, and a trace of iron : the iron, I believe, imparts 

 colour to the bark. It contains also a little magnesia. The 

 raphides, I believe, consist of oxalate of lime ; the numbers being 

 small, and phosphate of lime in minute quantity being present, 

 it is not easy to speak with any certainty of their composition. 



"5. Bulb- scale of Shallot. — Burnt, it leaves a white ash, 

 retaining the form of the scale, shrunken, in which the crystals 

 may be seen, their form being unaltered. The ash efiervesces 

 with acid, and almost entirely dissolves, a trace of silica only 

 remaining. The crystals (4-sided prisms) appear to consist of 

 oxalate of lime and magnesia. 



" 6. Leaf of Heliconia aurantiaca. — It yields, when burnt, a 

 small quantity of fusible ash : the fused ash is a hard glass, 

 resisting the action of muriatic acid. Besides the raphides, 

 there are a few minute prisms in the leaf. The leaf, digested in 

 dilute muriatic acid, affords a solution which is precipitated by 

 ammonia, as if it contained oxalate of lime, and afterwards by 

 phosphate of soda. Perhaps the prisms consist of oxalate of 

 lime, and the raphides of oxalate of lime and magnesia. 



" 7. Officinal Urginea Scilla. — Burnt, it leaves a good deal of 

 white ash, which emits a bright white light when strongly heated. 

 The ash consists chiefly of lime, with a httle magnesia and a trace 

 of phosphate of lime. The raphides, I infer from the slow action 

 of acetic acid on them, and from their solution being precipitated 

 by ammonia, consist principally of oxalate of lime. 



" Roots of Galium Mollugo and officinal Jamaica and Guate- 

 mala Sarza. — The raphides appear to consist of phosphate of 

 lime, judging from their ready solubility in dilute acetic acid, 

 and from the composition of the ash, in which, besides phos- 

 phate of lime, there is some lime and magnesia." 



The results obtained by this eminent physiologist, including 

 his examination of Epilobium ('Annals,' May 1861, p. 423), 



