260 



Transactions, — Chemistry. 



Art, XLY. — Further Report on the Chemistry of Pliormium tenax.* By 

 Arthur Herbert Church, M.A., Oxon, Professor of Clieniistry in 

 the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester, England. — April, 1873. 



Communicated by the Hon. the Colonial Secretary. 

 \Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, \st September, 1873.] 



Contents. 



§ 1. — Proximate Principles of the Leaf. 



(a.) Glim. 



(b. ) Wax or Fat. 



(c. ) Sugar. 



(d. ) Bitter Principle 



(e. ) Colouring Matters. 



(/. ) Organic Acids. 

 § 2. — Mineral Matter or Ash of the Leaf. 



§ 3.- 



-Further Experiments with the Fibre. 



(a.) Absorption of Mineral, Vege- 

 table, and Animal Oil by the 

 Fibre. 



(b. ) Colouration of the Fibre. 



(c.) Miscellaneous Observations on 

 the Fibre. - 



Appendix. 



§ 1. Proximate Principles of the Leaf of Phormium tenax. 



In examining the constituents of the fresh plant, as received from the Royal 



Gardens at Kew, particular attention was paid to those substances which 



seemed likely to prove of interest in themselves, or in connection with the 



preparation of the Phormium fibre. The experiments and results given in 



this section of the report will be found to relate to the gum, wax, sugar, bitter 



principle, colouring matter, and organic acids of the Phormium leaf. A few 



words, however, may be first given in reference to the total percentage of 



organic or carbonaceous matters in the leaves employed. These leaves were 



in perfection — neither decayed and faded on the one hand, nor immature on 



the other. They gave, on drying at 212° Fah. (100° centigrade), and 



subsequent burning in the air, the following percentages : — 



Moisture ... .,. ... ... 71-6 



Organic matter ... ... ... ... 26 "8 



Mineral matter ... ... ... ... 1-6 



100-0 



By a reference to my previous report, § ll,f it will be seen that these 

 results are almost identical with those obtained in the analysis of similar 

 leaves in the year 1871. 



The next step was to extract, identify, separate, and finally to examine the 

 chief organic constituents, or proximate principles, of the leaf. The use ol 

 water and of other solvents, cold or hot, enables us to make an examination 

 of this kind. Cold water extracts from the divided and bruised leaf a good 

 deal of sugar, with traces of albuminoid mattei's and of saline substances ; hot 

 water removes a good deal of gum and starch along with much of the bitter 



* App. to Jouru. H. of K, 1871, G. No. 4a. 



+ loc, cit., p. 12. 



