from New South Wales. 245 



giving the following results per cent : — 



Carbon . . . 43-90 



Hydrogen . . . 6-29 



Oxygen . . . 49'81 



100-00 ■ 



■wliicli agrees perfectly with the results obtained for inulin 

 from other sources. 



The insoluble residue was likewise carefully washed with 

 boiling water, and then constituted a white substance 

 insoluble in water, alcohol, acids, and alkalies, and agreeing 

 in its characters with cellulose. That it actually was this 

 substance was determined by the following analysis of the 

 substance at 212° : — 



(3' 953 grains of cellulose gave 

 6'334 .... of carbonic acid, and 

 2-494 .... of water. 



Carbon . . . 43-69 



Hydrogen . . . 7-00 



Oxygen . . . 49-31 



100-00 



Traces of nitrogen, and of a waxy or resinous matter, 

 were also detected ; but of these, and more especially of the 

 former, the quantity was too minute to admit of determina 

 tion. When burnt in the air, it left behind 1"13 per cent, 

 of a white ash. 



The quantitative analysis of lerp presentfd some diffi- 

 culties. These were cliiefly experienced in determining the 

 quantity of starch, Avhich I at first attempted to do in the 

 usual manner, by washing it out ; but the hairs disintegrated 

 under pressure, and passed in fragments through the cloth, 

 so that I was under the necessity of abandoning this process, 

 and determining it by diflFerence. This was effected in the 

 following manner : The residue, after extraction by alcohol 

 and cold water, and Avhich, of course, contained the starch, 

 inulin, and cellulose, was weighed, and then boiled with 

 water. The insoluble residue of this process, which was 

 cellulose, was w^ashed, dried, and weighed ; the inulin which 

 deposited from the boiling solution, on cooling, was likewise 

 washed, dried, and weighed. The difference between the sum 



