510 Prof. G. Gulliver on Raphides. 



are important. They show that true raphides may consist either 

 of phosphate of lime, of oxalate of lime, or of oxalate of lime 

 and magnesia, and that a minute portion of vegetable matter 

 probably forms a part of the raphis : besides, they tend to con- 

 firm the accuracy of Prof. D. Maclagan's analysis of the raphides 

 of Richardia ; for this plant belongs to Aracese, and now Dr. 

 Davy, quite independently, finds that the raphides of Colocasia, 

 another plant of the same order, are also composed of oxalate 

 of lime. As to the exact relation of the vegetable to the mineral 

 part of the raphis, whether forming the intertexture and frame 

 of its substance, like the animal cartilage of bone, or a mere 

 pellicle, according to Payen and others, or an appearance only, 

 produced by contact of the plant -juice with the saline crystal, 

 further observations would be very interesting. 



Nyctayinacece. — Raphides in the seed-leaves and spermoderm, 

 and very numerous in the tap-root and leaves, of Mirabilis. 



Smilacece. — Fresh sprig and leaf of Smilax Sarsaparilla, and 

 leafless twig of S. aspera, from Mr. Sowerby : the former abound- 

 ing in raphides; and the latter with numerous bundles of them 

 in the young leaf-buds and a few in the liber. Thus, as was 

 expected from the quantity of raphides in the officinal root, they 

 abound in other parts of Smilax^. 



Commelinacece. — Raphides abundant in the roots and leaves of 

 Commelina ccelestis and Tradescantia viryinica, though not to be 

 found in the British species of Alisma and Butomus belonging 

 to the orders next following Commelinacese. Thus, though the 

 external appearance of the tubers of Commelina and Butomus is 

 similar, they may be immediately distinguished ; and the viscid 

 juice of the latter, when let out, being coagulable by and im- 

 miscible with water, is another remarkable difference. 



Aracea. — Raphides abounding in the green part and pale 

 spots of the leaf of Dieffenbachia maculata, and in the leaf of 

 Colocasia antiquorum. In these plants the raphis-cells are elon- 

 gated and pointed at the ends, quite unlike the short neighbour- 

 ing cells — thus also unlike the raphidian ceils of C. odora, figured 

 by Prof. Balfour, though projecting, as shown by that eminent 

 botanist, into the central intez-cellular spaces of the petiole. 

 Acorus Calamus : this is not a raphis-bearing plant. 



Persistency of the raphis-bearing character. — We have before 



* As Dr. Davy finds the raphides of the root to consist of phosphate 

 of lime, and considering the profusion also of starch in the Jamaica and 

 Honduras samples from Apothecaries' Hall, no wonder that a course of 

 such Sarzae should be so efficacious in certain cachexies, while it might be 

 rationally suggested that the same drug would likewise be useful in those 

 sad and intractable diseases of infants which are connected with imperfect 

 nutrition and a deficiency of phosphate of lime in the bones. 



