1 62 Cellulose 



are isolated from the parenchyma of the fruit in which they are 

 imbedded, by long boiling with water, rubbing down to a pulp, 

 washing away tne cellular debris, and thus, by continued 

 mechanical action and washing, entirely freeing them from the 

 matrix of softer tissue. The substance of these concretions 

 gives constant results on elementary analysis, expressed by the 

 empirical formula C 24 H 36 O 16 ; to this complex Erdmann gave 

 the name Glycodrupose, and he regards it as resolved on boiling 

 with hydrochloric acid according to the equation : 



C 24 H 36 I6 + 4 H.O = 2 C 6 H 12 O 6 + C,,H ao O 8 . 



Glycodrupose Glucose Drupose 



Drupose, on fusion with potash (KOH), yields aromatic 

 products amongst which pyrocatechin was identified. Glyco- 

 drupose, on boiling with dilute nitric acid, gives a residue of 

 pure cellulose. These results were repeated by Bente (Berl. 

 Ber. 8, 476), and in general terms confirmed, though the ana- 

 lytical results varied somewhat from the above. 



From our present point of view, the interpretation of these 

 results by these investigators is open to question in more than 

 one direction, but they certainly establish the following points : 



The concretions represent a compound cellulose, of which 

 the non-cellulose is easily converted into aromatic derivatives. 

 This compound cellulose gives constant results when analysed, 

 whether for its elementary or proximate constituents, and is 

 therefore a chemical individual. The authors, on the other 

 hand, in investigating the product some years ago, noted a very 

 close resemblance in all the reactions of this complex with 

 those of jute. It may therefore be included amongst the Ligno- 

 celluloses. It may be also noted that the formula assigned to 

 the complex by Erdmann differs by only one O atom from 

 the empirical formula which we have used for the jute sub- 

 stance : 



Ci 2 H 18 O 8 Ci 2 H ]8 O 9 



Glycodrupcse Jute Hgnocellulose 



