778 Microscopic Crystals contained in Plants. [November, 
aggregate known as inuline. This substance is an organic com- 
pound having the composition Ce Hy O;. Miller says that this is 
a variety of starch, insoluble in alcohol but soluble in hot water, 
and by boiling with dilute acids it is converted first into dextrine 
and then into pure levulose. It forms an insoluble precipitate 
when its solution is mixed with one of acetate of lead and ammo- 
nia is added. I did not attempt to extract it from the root as 
that is quite a difficult operation to perform. The crystals appear 
like a globular mass with fissures radiating from the center out- 
wards ; iodine when applied to the well-cleaned section, gives 
with inuline a distinct yellow color. This statement is in direct 
opposition to that made by Fluckiger and Hanbury (see Pharma- 
cographia under elecampane). The only part of the plant that I 
had was the root, it being too early for the stem, leaves, etc., SO 
that I am not able to state what might be found in the other 
parts. oe 
Taraxacum dens-leonis also contains inuline, but in much 
smaller amount than the last, and also a few sphzraphides, which 
seem to have no particular location, as they may be found, on 
close examination, in almost any part of the plant, although rare. 
They were too small and too few in number to obtain any definite 
chemical tests with them. Also raphides were present, but only 
in small numbers and not in bundles. 
Cichorum intybus contains inuline but it is in still smaller 
amounts than in the last. 
I also found inuline in the root of Cirsum arvense, or Canada 
thistle ; in which plant raphides are formed in the flower recepta- 
_ cle and also in the parts of the flower, also some other crystals 
which seemed to have four faces tapering to a point at each end 
(crystal prisms), The number of faces were probably double this. 
These crystals were soluble, with effervescence in hydrochloric 
and not in acetic acid. The raphides gave the chemical test for 
‘phosphate. 
In Cirsium muticum, or swamp thistle, the crystals of inuline 
were very small and indistinct. The raphides were found the 
same as in the last species, though more numerous. The crystal 
prisms I was not able to find at all, the reason perhaps is, that I 
had only a young plant, while of the Canada thistle I had a fall 
or late specimen, Cirsium lanceolatum gave the same results aS 
C. arvense. 
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