70 On the Potato Disease. 



Two atoms of glycocoll united to two of uric acid would 

 equal three atoms of cyanate of glycocoll : 



C 3 H 8 N 0,+C,. N 4 H 4 6 =3(C 4 H 4 N0 3 , C 3 NO), 



a compound that may be presumed readily to dissolve in water. 

 All effort to this end, however, proved unsuccessful. Uric acid 

 remained unchanged in the most concentrated solution of glyco- 

 coll, even with the long continued application of heat. 



Glycocoll and Benzoic Acid. 



As these two bodies exist in combination in hippnric acid, it 

 was to be presumed that a reunion might be effected. To this 

 end, solutions of the two in spirits of wine were made and poured 

 together. After a time the glycocoll on the one hand and the 

 benzoic acid on the other crystallized out. 



The same result attended the effort to combine cinnamic acid, 

 cane sugar and neutral phosphate of lime with glycocoll. 



(To be continued.) 



Art. IX. — On the Potato Disease. 



Recherches sur la Nature et les Causes de la Maladie des Pommes de 

 Terre, en 1845; par P. Harting, Professeur a PUniversite d'Utrecht. 

 Amsterdam, 1846. 



De Ziekten der Aardappelen in het Algemeen, door Prof, von Martius. 

 Of de Aardappel Epidemie der Laatste Jaren. Berigten en Med- 

 deelingen door het Genootschap voor Landbouvv en Kruidkunde te 

 Utrecht. 



The above are the titles of two of the most extended scien- 

 tific investigations of this subject that have yet appeared. The 

 work of Prof. Harting is particularly valuable, as containing a 

 methodical and extensive series of microscopic observations which 

 seem to have been made with much care and accuracy. It is il- 

 lustrated by colored plates, showing the tissues, the cells, &c, of 

 the potato in its healthy state, and proceeding through the com- 

 mencement and various stages of disease. 



Prof. Harting is clearly of the opinion that the disease is not 

 to be ascribed to a parasitic fungus ; but that the fungus is an ef- 

 fect only, as in the commencement it is never visible and some- 

 times is wholly absent during the whole progress of the malady. 

 He has distinguished and figured no less than six varieties of 

 these singular plants. The greater part of them belong to the 

 genus Fusisporium of Link. One of them Fusisporium Solani is 

 also described and figured by von Martius. Its characters are : 



Floccis fertilibus erectis ramosissimis parce septatis, ramis pa- 

 tentibus, sporidiis terminalibus arcuatis, 4-5 septatis, facile deci- 

 dentibus. 



