U L M 



througti it ; wliich yellow folution, on evaporation, produced 

 a number of prifmatic cryftals, having the appearance of ni- 

 trate of potafli ; and thefe were tinged yellow by fome of 

 the refin. The mixture, heated in a gold di(h, deflagrated 

 with violence, and left a large quantity of fixed alliali. Si- 

 milar reiults were obtained by means of dilute muriatic acid. 

 The filtered liquor afforded faline matter, which being freed 

 by ignition from a portion of diffolved refin, (hot into pure 

 white cubes of muriate of potafli. A fimilar precipitation 

 was effeAed by fulphuric, phofphoric, oxalic, tartaric, and 

 citric acids, in folution of ulmin. Ditlilled vinegar pro- 

 duced no turbidnefs, but the mixtui-e, exhaled to drynefs, at a 

 gentle heat, was found to be again wholly foluble in water ; 

 and when it boiled, fome decompofition occurred. On adding 

 muriatic acid to a mixture of iolution of ulniin and dillilled 

 vinegar, a precipitate was produced, as in an aqueous folu- 

 tion. The nitric and muriatic acids received from the ulmin 

 a fmall quantity of hme and iron, and, as was fuppofed, of 

 magnefia ; which were conceived to be foreign admixtures. 

 Some experiments were made in order to deteCl the quantity 

 of potafli in ulmin. When four grains of this fubftance were 

 decompofed by nitric acid, 2.4 grains of refin-like matter were 

 the rcfult ; and when the nitrate of potafli ubtained was heated 

 to deflagration, in a platina crucible to free it from refin, 

 the alkali produced was fuperfaturated with nitric acid, 

 dried, and flightly fufed ; it then weighed 1.2 grain : fo that 

 if we admit 4 of nitrate of potafli to he alkali, this will de- 

 note Vi'V of potafli in ulmin. By deconipofing five grains 

 of ulmin by muriatic acid, the rcfinous matter weighed 



3.3 grains ; and the muriate of potalh, ignited, feparated 

 from the charcoal, dried, and again made red-hot, weiglied 



1.4 grain. Suppofing ' of muriate of potafli to be alkali, 

 we may infer that tlie ulmin had -rV'o- Two grains of 

 ulmin were made red-hot in a gold crucible ; and it then 

 weighed only 1.05 grain. The flakes, retaining their form, 

 appear to have acquired the blue and yellow colours of 

 heated fteel, with the metallic afpeft and luftre ; but the 

 metallic appearance was immediately dellroyed by water. 

 Muriatic acid poured on, caufed a Itrong effervcfcence, and 

 formed muriate of potafli, which freed from charcoal, and 

 made red-hot, weighed 0.6 grain, correfoonding to tW of 

 potafli in ulmin. From tiiefe experiments our author in- 

 fers, that the quantity of potafli in ulmin is about J-. 



The fubilance feparated from ulmin by acids has the fol- 

 lowing qualities : it is gloffy, and appears rcfinous : in 

 lumps it appears black, in minute fragments tranfparent, and 

 of a garnet-red colour : it burns with flame, and is reduced 

 to white aflics : alcohol diflblves it in a very fmall quantity, 

 which is alfo the cafe with water : acids caufe a precipitate 

 on the folution, though the refin-like matter appears neither 

 to contain any alkali, nor to retain any of the acid : its 

 watery folution feems to redden turnfole paper : neither 

 ammonia nor carbonate of foda promotes its folution in cold 

 water : on adding a fmall quantity of potafh to water, it 

 diffolvcs immediately and abundantly. Upon tlie whole, it 

 appears that ulmin is not a fimple vegetable principle of ano- 

 malous qiialitiuB, but a combination with potafli of a red, or 

 more properly, a high yellow matter, which, if not of a 

 peculiar genus, feems rather more related to the extractives 

 than to tiie refins. 



Our author made feveral experiments with a black fhining 

 fubftance, appearing like ulnii'i, collected from an elm-tree 

 in Kenfington gardens ; and found tliat it diflers in a variety 

 of refpeits from tiiat wliich he obtained from Palermo. 

 The Englifh ulmin had an excefs of alkali, which he fup- 

 pofes to be owing to liie tree from wljjcli it was collected 

 having been afi'eCted with the dileafe whicli producee llie 



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alkaline ulcer to which the elm is fubjedt. Ubiiin, he 

 fays, appears to be the produdt of old trees. The ufes to 

 which it is apphcable, as an allringcnt, are ttill to be invef- 

 tigated. See Phil. Tranf. for 181 3, pt. i. 



ULMUS, in Bolany, an old Latin name, generally left 

 by etymologifts unexplained, but deduced by De Theis 

 from Elm, its fynonym in Angio-Saxon, as well as in all 

 the dialcfts of the Celtic tongue ; and whic! has remained 

 unchanged in Englifli to this day. — Linn. Gen. 123. 

 Schreb. 173. WiUd. Sp. PI. v, i. 1324. Mart. Mill. Dia. 

 v. 4. Siri. Fl. Brit. 381. Prodr. Fl. Gra;c. Sibth. v. i. 

 171. Ait. Hort. Kew. V. 2. IC7. Purfli 199. Juif. 408. 

 Tourn. t. 372. Lamarck Did. v. 4. 609. lUuilr. t. i8j. 

 Gsertn. t. 49. — Clafs and order, Pentandria Digynia. Nat. 

 Ord. Scabride, Linn. Amentacea, Juff. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, turbinate, 

 corrugated ; its limb four or live-cleft, eredl, internally co- 

 loured, permanent. Cnr. none. Stam. Filaments four or 

 five, ?.wl-fliapcd, twice the length of the calyx ; anthers 

 ereft, fhort, with four furrows. P'ljl. Gernien orbicular, 

 compreffed, ereft, fomewhat ilalked ; flyles two, flioiter 

 than the Itamens, reflexed ; iligmas downy. Pvr'ic. Cap- 

 fule membranous, large, oval, compreffed, winged, with 

 the dilated llyles, of one cell, not burfting. Seed folitary. 

 roundifli, flightly compreffed. 



EfT. Cli. Calyx four or five-cleft, inferior, permanent. 

 Corolla none. Capfule membranous, compreffed, nearly 

 fiat, with one feed. 



Obf. The flowers in fome fpecies have only four fegments 

 and four flamens, in fome occafionally fix. Schkuhr is 

 laid to have met with eight flamens, which WiUdenow con- 

 firms. The pericarp was called by Linnaeus foiiielimes a 

 dry drupa, iometimes a dry berry. Schreber adopted the 

 latter. In more modern language it is a S.wiaua ; fee that 

 article. 



The fpecies of Ulmus have not been well defined. Lin- 

 naeus confounded all the European ones together, under the 

 name of U. campejlrls. The writer of this has dillinguifhed 

 five Britifli fpecies in his Engl. Bot., and Compendium, 

 ed. 2. More may perhaps be made out hereafter. Cha- 

 radlers formerly fuppofed accidtiital, fuch as the number of 

 ftamens and fegments of the flower, have been found per- 

 manently to indicate a fpecific difference ; and the dilferent 

 value of the feveral fpecies, for ornamental planting, or for 

 timber, renders their difcrimination important. They are 

 generally trees of lofty Itature, with hard and tough wood ; 

 Italked, alternate, roughifh leaves ; and numerous, tufted, 

 fmall, reddifli or pnrplifh, very vixr\y Jlowers, fading long 

 before the foliage expands. The eiipfules are deciduous, co- 

 pious, of a light ehaify afpeft, fcarcely ever perfefting their 

 Jeed, at leall in England. 



I. U. campe/lr'u. Common Elm. Linn. Sp. PI. 327. 

 Bauh. Pin. 426 ? Fl. Brit. n. I, «. Compend. 42. Engl. 

 Bot. t. 1886, excluding the reference to Willdenow and 

 Ehrhart. ( U. minor, folio angullo fcabro ; Goodyer in 

 Ger. Em. 1480. Raii Syn. 469. U. fuberofaat; Dryandr. 

 in Ait. 11. 2.) — Leaves doubly ferrated, rough, unequal at 

 the bale. Flowers nearly feflile, four-cleft, with four fla- 

 mens. Fruit oblung, naked. — Common in fcattered woods 

 and hedges, chiefly in t!ie fouthern pai-t of England, flower- 

 ing in April, fcaltcring its uiiprolific feeds in .June. The 

 tree attains a cuiifiderable height before it b!t)flbms, with a 

 rugged crooked trunk and branches, being of flower growth 

 than our other wild fpecies, with a li.^.rder, more durable, 

 and confequently more valuable, wood, wliich is preferred 

 for cofGns, as rcfifling wet for a long while. Leaves on 

 fliort llalks, ovate, fomewhat rhomboid, uiitqudl at llie bafe, 



doubly 



