24 Marshall Ward and Dunlop. 
of Rhamnus — viz. R. tinctorius , W. & K., R. Carolimanus , 
Walter, 7?. Wicklius , and ivh catharticus , L. — but have 
found no trace of the ferment in any of them. This being 
the case, I shall sum up the chief points respecting these fruits, 
&c. in a very few words. 
All the fruits were ripe, and the pericarps dark purple and 
soft, yielding violet and purple brown solutions when extracted 
with water. The colours of the solutions soon change and 
become browner or redder, and paler. The addition of a few 
drops of ammonia in all cases turns the purple or brown solu- 
tions green, apparently due to the formation of a pigment 
like ‘ sap-green. 5 These brown or purple solutions also 
contain glucose, precipitating abundantly from Fehling’s 
solution. 
In no case was I able to obtain any ferment action when 
the seeds of any species were added to the extract from the 
pericarps of its own or other fruits. The seeds did not pre- 
cipitate rhamnetin in the solutions of xanthorhamnin ob- 
tained from the pericarps of Rhamnus infectorius ; nor did 
the seeds of the latter species cause any precipitate to form 
in the liquors obtained from the pericarps of the above four 
species. It seems safe to conclude, therefore, that no ferment 
is present in the seeds of these four species, at any rate when 
the fruits are ripe. 
This raises the question, is the ferment present in the seeds 
of R. infectorius when fully ripe? I cannot yet answer this 
question, because I do not know whether the fruits used in the 
trade as ‘ Persian Berries ’ are ripe when gathered. Probably 
they are not, but are cured while yet not quite mature. 
If the precipitate of rhamnin is chiefly withheld inside the 
fruits, this explains why the dyers obtain poorer results by 
this method, since the crystalline precipitate of rhamnin is 
what they want. 
The soluble ferment was regarded as probably existing in 
well-protected sclerenchymatous but pitted cells of the testa, 
as a fine granulated mass ; but I have now demonstrated that 
it exists in the parenchymatous cells of the raphe. 
