MATERIA MEDICA AMD THERAPEUTICS. 
29 
alcohol was added in small quantities at a time, until twenty ounces had passed' 
through each, when the material was found to be exhausted. 
The tinctures were evaporated to the consistence of syrup, and precipitation 
effected with water alone, according to the United States Pharmacopoeia, when 
the precipitates were carefully collected and dried. From the rhizoma the 
yield was one hundred and thirty-seven grains, and from the radical fibres one 
hundred and thirty-seven and a half grains,—showing that there is no reason 
for regarding samples of root containing a large amount of fibres as in any 
way inferior, provided they have been carefully cleaned.— Proc. Am. Pharm. 
Association , 1867. 
Truffle Hunt at Cannes. 
As it is now the very height of the Truffle season, and as this place is within 
a reasonable distance of some of the best Truffle-producing districts of France, 
it is not to be wondered at if some of us English, who are here for the winter, 
should have felt a strong desire to see the habitats of these redoubtable tubers, 
and the mode in which they are hunted by the natives. An expedition was 
organized accordingly, in which the noble president of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, myself, and a score of other friends took part, and which “ came off ” 
very successfully on Tuesday last. The little town of St. Yallier, which stands 
about 2500 feet above the level of the sea, was the point for which we made, 
and we reached it about two o’clock, after a magnificent drive of four and a half 
hours, very hungry and quite ready for luncheon. Fortunately, luncheon was 
quite ready for us at the Hotel du Nord, and including as it did various plats, 
in which Truffles that had not seen the light for more than a few hours, played 
a prominent part, this proved a very instructive as well as a very savoury 
and agreeable meal. This important part of the business over, we called for 
the “ hunters,” active little fellows, carrying leathern bags, and provided with 
short instruments, something between a pick and a hoe, rendered indispensable 
by the stony character of the ground in which the Truffles are wont to be 
found. We had not to go far in search of sport, for within a few hundred 
yards of the inn Ave reached a sort of wilderness, in which bushes of low 
scrubby white Oaks (Quercus Cerris ) formed the whole above-ground vegeta¬ 
tion, and as it is only in the bare open spaces among the bushes that Truffles 
occur, it was to these, of course, that the attention of the hunters was confined. 
In former times dogs, which are still used for the purpose in Sussex, would 
have been employed to scent out the whereabouts of the unctuous tubers, and 
at a much more recent period the same office would have been discharged by 
pigs, but the assistance of either dogs or pigs is now—in France at least—en¬ 
tirely dispensed with, and flies have taken their place. It seems that a certain 
sort of fly, not very unlike what one sees about farmyard manure heaps, only 
that it has spots on its wings, has a peculiar affinity for the Truffle, and is 
always found hovering about the places where Truffles grow, probably with the 
view of depositing its eggs in them. No sooner, therefore, did the hunters 
notice a dozen of these truffle-flies brooding over a particular spot, than they 
immediately set to work to dig the tubers out; the latter, however, were never 
found more than one at a time, nor ever at a greater depth than 6 or 8 inches. 
The soil in which they grew was sandy, of a dark oclireous brown, and tra¬ 
versed by the roots of the Oaks, on which sometimes, though by no means al¬ 
ways, the tubers seemed to rest. When once found they were easily dislodged, 
and several ladies of our party performed this feat in turn. The fresh tubers 
smell exceedingly strong, and the soil about them is impregnated for some dis¬ 
tance with their powerful and peculiar odour. I wish I could add that we dis¬ 
covered anything that would seem at all likely to give a clue to the solution of 
the difficulty that has hitherto baffled all attempts to cultivate them. Even 
when found they are rare, and command a very high price; no wonder, then, 
