THE VOLATILE PART OF PLANTS. 61 
Rye-straw fiber. Linen fiber. 
Water........ee 8.65 5.40 
7) | 2.05 1.14 
IN is bs aire spccieue ots 0.15 0.2% 
Ghia stewen esis 42.47 38.36 
Fie sigiiiniwity eietesiare 6.04 5.89 
O... ce eee wens 40.64 48.95 
100.00 100.00 
On deducting water and ash, and making proper correction for the 
nitrogen, the above samples, together with one of wheat-straw fiber, 
analyzed by Henneberg, exhibit the following composition, compared 
with pure cellulose. 
Rye-straw fiber. Linen fiber. Wheat-straa fiber. Pure cellulose. 
eee 47.5 41.0 45.4 44.4 
High evecieae 6.8 6.4 6.3 6.2 
7 ee: 45.7 52.6 48.3 49.4 
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 
Franz Schulze, of Rostock, proposed in 1857 another method for esti- 
matin: cellulose, which las recently, (1866,) been shown to be more cor- 
rect than the one already described. Kiln, Aronstein, and H. Schulze, 
(Henneberg’s Journal fiir Landwirthschaft, 1866, pp. 289 to 297, ) have ap- 
plied this method in the following manner: One part of the dry pulver- 
ized substance, (2 to 4 grams,) which has becn previously extracted with 
water, alcohol, and ether, is placed in a glass-stoppered bottle, with 0.8 
part of chlorate of potash and 12 parts af nitric acid of specific gravity 
1.10, and digested at a temperature not excceding 65° F. for 14 days. At 
the expiration of this time, the contents of the bottle are mixed with 
some water, brought upou a filter, and washed, firstly, with cold and 
afterwards, with hot water. When all the acid and soluble matters have 
been washed out, the contents of the filter are emptied into a beaker, 
and heated to 165° F. for about 45 minutes with weak ammonia, (1 part 
commercial ammonia to 50 parts of water); the substance is then brought 
upon a weighed filter, and washed, first, with dilute ammonia, as long as 
this passes off colored, then with cold and hot water, then with alcohol, 
and, finally, with ether. The substance remaining contains a small 
quantity of ash and nitrogen, for which corrections must be made. The 
fiber is, however, purer than that procured by the other method, and a 
somewhat larger quantity, (1g to 1}¢ per cent,) is obtained. The results 
“appear to vary but about one per cent from the truth, 
_The average proportions of cellulose found in various vegetable 
matters in the usual or air-dry state, are as follows; 
