a 2 vi hes ai ENTIFIC RI FARCH. ” pint se 
, 77.38 8 per an aad 22. 60 per cane ere The same y iydeate has been bbiaindd 
rly by Roscoe ina different manner; he states the boiling point to be 107.1 to 
2. On repeated distillation the hydrate Splits off formic acid and seems to (Pass 
t into the hydrate 3HCOOH + 3H,0. | 
2 Investigations as to the physico-chemical behaviour of camphoric and isocamphoric 
E have been carried out by Zehrfeld and Thoms; wde p. 140 of this Report. 
3 
Botanical Notes. 
ers do not agree as to the botanical origin of Lignum nephriticum. H.S. Méller'), 
; the time, arrived at the conviction that the Lignum nephriticum mexicanum came 
from the Leguminose Pterocarpus Amphymenium, DC., and Pt. or biculatus, DC., the 
9 zum nephriticum Philippinense, however, from other kinds of Pterocarpus. im cored to 
Small and Stapf?), this is not the case and the Leguminose Hysenhardtia amorphoides, H. B. 
mK is supposed to be the plant from which the drug is derived. W. E. Stafford ®) 
hinks that both views are correct. He proves that there are two kinds of Ligiwm 
” rep hriticum, one of which, the Mexican, really comes from Hysenhardtia amorphoides, H.B.K. 
= E. polystacha, Sargent). The other, sent from the Philippine Islands to Europe via. 
lexico, is supplied by Pterocarpus indicus, Willd. Both kinds of wood, above all the 
h Be iwood, impart to water the quality of fluorescing with a blue colour, whereas it | 
looks yellow when the light passes through. The extract may be of little value as a 
di urectic, but the colouring matter deserves all phytochemical attention with regard to 
presence of similar substances in many other tropical leguminous plants, especially 
<i nds of Pterocarpus, such as Pt. marsupium, supplying kino, and Pt. eat from 
ich the red sandalwood is derived. 
ing 
ei 
* 
+ 
f 
: anally only, one finds in books and other publications remarks on the 
‘ gern ination of aromatic and medicinal plants, but not very much is known on the 
sub ject, although a knowledge thereof must be of the greatest interest to everybody 
connected with the cultivation of such plants. In a treatise entitled “Uber die Keimungs- 
»v er filinisse der Samen der gebrduchlichsten Arzneipflanzen” (On the conditions of germination 
of the seeds of the current medicinal plants), G. Gentner*) discusses all that has been 
published so far about this important subject. There are a good many indications 
concerning our special domain. 
As many medicinal plants are descended from wild species, which have been 
cultivated for a short time only, their seeds want special conditions for germinating 
and do not fit at all into the scheme, which we are used to form on account of the 
= iences made with the ordinary cultivated plants. There are seeds of wild plants 
lose the faculty to germinate already 10 days after having ripened, e. g. most of 
oul willows, and among our medicinal plants there are also some, such as angelica, 
the seeds of which retain their germinative faculty for a comparatively short time. 
Oth seeds, on the contrary lie in the soil for months, even years, until they germinate. 
Furthermore, it has been found that some seeds germinate only in a normal way 
in the dark, whereas others would then lie for months without showing any signs of 
na 
} 
a 
_ ®) Berichte d. deutsch. pharm. Ges. (Reports of the German Pharmaceutical Society) 28 (1913), 88; Report 
Jetober 1913, 69. — %) Pharmaceutical Journ. 92 (1914), 4; Report April 1914, 68. — *) Ann. Rep. of the 
wan Inst.; Pharm. Weekblad 54 (1917), 1187. As per Aypotheker-Ztg. 82 (1917), 519. — 4) Heil- und 
arzpflanzen 1 (1917), 16, 39, 77. + 
T* 
. al . J . J Le ae ae au a 4 
a pa a ag aaa Alla Me i tH 
