Botany. 183 



Acetic Acid. Acetamide. Ethyl ace tamide. 



C 2 H 3 2 | 02 C 4H 3 2 j NH C 4 H 3<^j N (C 4 H 5 ) 



Anhydrous acetic acid. Diacetamide. Ethylodiacetamide. 



C 4 H 3 2 ) Q C 4 H3 2 \ TVTTT C 4 H3 2 1 ^r ,Q TT \ 



C 4 H 3 2 J ° 2 C 4 H 3 2 J Nti C 4 H 3 2 J * ^ ^ 



The amides of a bibasic acid may be similarly represented, and selecting 

 oxalic acid as an example, we have the following formulas. 



Oxalic Acid. Oxamide. Oxamic Acid. Oxamethane. Diethyloxamide. 



C 2^|o 2 c 2^\nh C2 ° 2 }nh C2 ° 2 1nh C2 §}n(C 4 H 5 ) 



H |U 2 h/^ 11 H/ U2 C 4 H 5 / U2 h/^^* 118 ) 



The production and character of the amides are readily explained accord- 

 ing to this view, but though ingenious it can scarcely be considered as 

 equal in simplicity and beauty to that of Gerhardt's. The principal, in- 

 deed, the only advantage it possesses is that it affords an explanation of 

 the feebly acid properties of some of the amides, in so far as the basic hy- 

 drogen of the original acid is not removed. On the other hand, if we 

 carry it out to its full extent, we should expect all the amides to possess 

 acid properties, which they certainly do not ; nor is there any reason why 

 oxamic should not, like oxalic acid, be bibasic, for it would still contain 

 two equivalents of basic hydrogen. — Annates de Chimie et de Physique. 

 3d Series, vol. 42, p. 43. 



Alcohol from the Tubercules of Asphodelus ramosus. — The tubercules 

 of Asphodelus ramosus have been employed for some years in Algeria 

 for the manufacture of alcohol. It has been asserted that they contain 

 neither starch nor sugar, and the experiments of M. Clerget fully confirm 

 this opinion. When grated and pressed they yield 81 per cent, of juice 

 of specific gravity 1-082. When treated with iodine not the slightest in- 

 dication of starch can be obtained. The juice has no action on polarised 

 light, but if it be heated with hydrochloric acid at the boiling temperature 

 it rotates the plane of polarisation to the left very powerfully. When 

 mixed with two per cent, of yeast it enters rapidly into fermentation, 

 and yields 8 per cent, of alcohol, being about twice as much as can be ob- 

 tained from the juice of the sugar beet. The dried tubercules of the plant 

 do not } T ield more than 3 per cent, of alcohol. M. Clerget is engaged in 

 the investigation of the principle which undergoes fermentation. 



BOTANY. 



On Datura Stramonium. — M. Alphonse De Candolle has made ob- 

 servations on the origin of Datura Stramonium, the thorn apple, and 

 other allied species, in which he states — 1. Datura Tatula, L., is in 

 all probability of American origin, being a native of Venezuela, per- 

 haps of a large portion of South America, and of Mexico ; it might have 

 been imported into Europe about the sixteenth century, and have thus 

 become naturalized first in Italy, then in the south-west of Europe, with- 

 out having as yet reached the south-eastern part. 2. Datura Stramonium, 

 L., appears to have been a native of the Old World, probably of the bor- 

 ders of the Caspian Sea and the adjacent regions, certainly not of India ; 

 and it is very doubtful whether its existence in Europe can be traced back 

 farther than the time of the Roman Empire ; it seems to have been scat- 

 tered over Europe between that epoch and the discovery of America. 



Datura ferox, L., is a very doubtful plant, both as regards the species 

 and its native country. It seems to be a variety of Datura Stramonium. 



