194 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. ; [September 3, 1870. 
lofty growth. The specific name excels a refers to its great 
height. 
Botany. —The genus Ailanthus has at different times 
been variously placed by systematic botani sts. It was for¬ 
merly referred by De Candolle to his tribe Connaracece of 
Ailanthus excelsa, Roxb. 
the Order Terebinthacece .* * * * § A closer research led for a short 
time to its transference to the extensive Order Rutacece , 
of which “ Ailanthecc ” was considered a second suborder 
by Dr. Arnott, and which was partially referred by 
Meissner to the distinct tribe of Zanthoxylacece. Bentham 
and other later systematic botanists have placed this 
genus in the Order Simarubacece, an arrangement -which is 
here adopted. 
“ Generic character.—Ailanthus , Desf. Act. Acad. Paris, 
1786, 263, t. 8. Flowers polygamous. Calyx small, 
5-lobed. Petals 5, valvate in the bud. Disk 10-lobed. 
Stamens 10, fewer or none in the female flowers; fila¬ 
ments without scales. Ovary 2- to 5-lobed; styles 
connate, with plumose stigmas; ovules solitary in each 
cell. Fruit of 1 to 5, oblong, membranous samaras 
thickened in the centre round the seed. Seed flat¬ 
tened, testa membranous: albumen scanty; cotyle¬ 
dons leafy, nearly orbicular. Trees. Leaves alternate, 
pinnate; leaflets oblique; flowers small, in terminal pa- 
nicles.”t A 
“Specific characters. — A. excelsa, Roxb. Trunk per¬ 
fectly straight, rising like that of the fir-tree to a very 
great height. Bark smooth, 'ash-coloured. Branches 
pretty numerous, ascending. Leaves about the extre¬ 
mities of the branchlets, abruptly pinnated, generally 
about three feet long. Leaflets short petiolated, from 
ten to fourteen pairs, obliquely oblong, or somewhat 
sickle-formed, the nerve runs so as to make the exterior 
portion twice as broad as the interior, very remotely and 
grossly serrated or indented, smooth, about four inches 
* Wight’s Ill. Ind. Bot., p. 169. 
f Bentham’s ‘ Flora Australiensis,’ vol. i. p. 373. 
long and two broad. Petiole round, smooth. Panicle 
terminal, very large. Bracts minute. Flowers exceed¬ 
ingly numerous, small, slightly tinged with yellow, her¬ 
maphrodite and male mixed.” 
Hermaphrodite Flowers. —“ Calyx as in the genus. Pe¬ 
tals five, many times larger than the calyx. Nectary or 
receptacle is a perforated, glandulous, notched body, 
which surrounds and in a great measure hides the germs. 
Filaments ten, shorter than the petals, inserted into the 
lower edge of the nectary. Germs above, from one to 
four, very minute, immersed in the perforation of the 
nectary. Style none. Stigma small. Capsules from 
one to four, but generally one or two; not connected at 
the base, linear, oblong, surrounded with a large mem¬ 
branaceous wing, a little twisted at the apex and base. 
Seed one, flattened.” 
Male Flowers. —Calyx, corol, nectary and stamens as 
in the hermaphrodite, but no rudiment of a pistil.* 
The tree flowers in the cold season, and ripens its fruit 
in April and May. Its wood is soft, white and light; it 
is readily attacked by insects. At Baroda and other 
places the wood is used for making handles and sheaths 
for swords and for other light work; in the Circars it is 
commonly made into catamarans. 
Habitat. —This species of Ailanthus is found in a na¬ 
tive state in India and in Ceylon. Roxburgh mentions 
it as an immense tree, a native of the interior of Coro¬ 
mandel. It flowers during the cold season, f Royle found 
it around Delhi, along the Jumna, as well as on the Coro¬ 
mandel coast .% It is found growing in the jungles of 
Travancore, Coorg, Mysore, Malabar and Ceylon. § In 
the Bombay presidency it chiefly occurs in Gujarat and 
Kattiawar, particularly so near Ahmedabad, Baroda and 
Broach ; and is thinly scattered over the Deccan. 
Its growth is not so rapid as one would believe from the 
soft nature of its wood. At Mehmoodabad a tree of the age 
of about seventy years is to be seen. Its circumference 
at the base measures eight feet. Trees of still larger 
girth and greater age are seen in other parts of India. 
This tree grows on the plains and open valleys, amongst 
mountains and a few miles inland from the coast. It 
thrives on a somewhat barren sandy alluvium containing 
limestone. In Gujarat, particularly about Ahmedabad 
and Baroda, it flourishes in the neighbourhood of villages 
where the soil abounds in calcareous matter, which largely 
enters into the structure of this plant. A somewh it dry 
climate having a considerable range of temperature ap¬ 
pears to be favourable to its growth. 
SOCIETY OF ARTS. 
On Fermentation. 
BY PROFESSOR A. W. WILLIAMSON, F.R.S. 
Lecture I. — continued. 
Now, the question arises whether this formation of 
acetic acid ought to be classed, as I am at present class¬ 
ing it, amongst the processes of fermentation. If it is 
due to the absorption of oxygen, you might naturally 
inquire whether one ought not to place it amongst the 
common processes of combustion, and it is right that I 
should state that by some authorities it is at present so 
classed. My reason, however, for stating what I have 
done, that it is a process of fermentation, is this, that it 
is usually effected by the action of a peculiar organism, 
called a vinegar-plant, an organism which I shall have 
occasion to show you hereafter, which does exert in that 
particular process the function of taking up oxygen 
from the air and of inducing the alcohol to combine 
* Roxburgh’s * Coromandel Plants,’ vol. i. p. 24. 
t Roxb. FI. Ind. vol. ii. p. 450. 
X Royle, Ill. Himal. Bot. p. 157. 
§ Cleghorn, Forests of S. India; and Moon, Cat. Ceylon 
Plants. 
