Prof. Bailey on the Ciystals found in Plants. 25 



1. The crystals were insoluble in cold or hot water. 



2. They dissolve without effervescence in sulphuric, hydro- 

 chloric and nitric acids. 



3. They are insoluble in acetic and oxalic acids. 



4. When heated they become opaque, and are still insoluble 

 in water. 



5. The crystals after ignition dissolve with brisk effervescence 

 in acids. 



6. The solution of the ignited crystals in acids, gives, when 

 neutralized, (even when diluted,) a white precipitate with oxalate 

 of ammonia. 



7. The isolated crystals, when dissolved in sulphuric acid, gave 

 on evaporation abundance of crystals of sulphate of lime, mingled 

 with others having the form and properties of oxalic acid. For 

 form of crystals of oxalic acid, see figures 22 and 23. 



8. The bark, when digested for several days in water and alco- 

 hol, so as to remove all soluble matters, was then treated with 

 dilute sulphuric acid, and on partial evaporation, the solution gave 

 an abundant crop of crystals of sulphate of lime. 



9. The liquid filtered from the sulphate of lime in the last ex- 

 periment, was allowed to evaporate spontaneously, and well char- 

 acterized crystals of oxalic acid were obtained. 



The first seven experiments just mentioned were performed 

 repeatedly with the aid of Chevalier's apparatus for micro-chem- 

 ical experiments, by the use of which the effect of heat and 

 chemical reagents upon these minute crystals could be watched 

 without difficulty, and more accurate results obtained than if 

 pounds had been submitted to examination. The processes and 

 results in these seven experiments are almost identical with those 

 mentioned by Raspail,* from which he concludes that the crys- 

 tals in Iris florentina are composed of oxalate of lime, but it 

 does not appear that he isolated the acid. 



In my eighth and ninth experiments the microscope was not 

 used, but larger portions of the bark were acted upon, and such 

 quantities of sulphate of lime and oxalic acid obtained as fully 

 to confirm the conclusions from the microscopic trials, that the 

 crystals with which the bark was crowded, were composed of 

 oxalate of lime. 



* Nouveau Systeme de Chimie Organique, Vol. Ill, p. 601. 

 Vol. xLTiii, No. 1.— Oct.-Dec. 1844. 4 



