202 On the Chemical and Natural History of Lupuline. 



did not permit them to study sufficiently well the bodies 

 which they had obtained from it. 



Lastly, in 1827, M. Easpail published, on the organisa- 

 tion of lupuline, the unique work which exists on this sub- 

 ject. That author sought to demonstrate the analogy of 

 this body with the pollen, as much by the investigation of 

 its structure as by that of the action which the various 

 solvents and chemical reagents exercised upon it. He 

 designated it under the name of pollen of the foliaceous 

 organs, " because its office," said he, " is to fecundate the 

 bud, just as that of the pollen of flowers is to fecundate the 

 ovary." I review farther on the observations of M. Easpail. 



Structure and Development of Lupuline. ■ 



Tlie lupuline obtained from cones that have arrived 

 at maturity presents itself in the form of a yellow powder, 

 whose tint varies according to the length of time which 

 lias elapsed since it was gathered. In the fresh state, it 

 lias a greenish-yellow colour, which afterwards passes into 

 a golden yellow, deepening more and more the longer it is 

 kept, especially when exposed to contact with air. The 

 form of the lupuline, when it has arrived at its complete 

 development, may be compared to that of an acorn with its 

 cup. Just as some acorns are more or less lengthened at 

 the base, so also some of the grains of lupuline are more or 

 less elongated. The length of these grains varies between 

 yVoths and xAths of a millimetre, and their thickness 

 between rVoths and iVoths ; but in general the two parts 

 of the lupuline, the superior and inferior, are strictly pro- 

 portional. We shall later see the reason. 



In comparing the lupuline with an acorn, I do not mean 

 to say that it is, like it, composed of two solid parts, one of 

 which encloses the base of the other. The comparison can 

 only be applied to the external form, for they differ in all 

 other respects. In fact, the surface of the two parts, su- 

 perior and inferior, of the lupuline, is perfectly continuous, 

 onl}^ the superior, at its point of insertion on the inferior, 

 is bent a little inwards towards the centre, and it is the 

 slight curve which it makes that gives it the acorn form. 



