4S6 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [December 17 , 1370 . 
obtained hardly any liquid at all; yet the products of 
distillation were less hydrated than those he obtained. 
Secondly, as I have already pointed out, by distilling 
the carbonate at present in commerce with anhydrous 
calcium chloride, ammonium carbamate condenses. Now 
this allows of no explanation, unless the carbonate is ad¬ 
mitted to have a different composition from what it used 
to have. The reactions in the two cases are expressed' 
by the following equations :— 
2(C0 2 ) 2 0H 2 (NH 3 ) 3 + 2Ca Cl 2 
To form 
carbamate. 
_/s,_ 
= 4NH 4 C1 + 2C0 3 Ca + C0 2 + C0 2 + 2 NH 3 ; 
Calc. XVII. XVIII. Phillips. 
Carbonic anhydride .. 55 ’70 — 55 ’40 55’5 
Ammonia. 21 - 52 22’63 22'08 21J6 
Water. 2278 — — 
100 00 
The acid carbonate, it will be remembered can easily 
be obtained in the above form by distilling the ordinary 
form of it very slowly. In the remarks which follow on 
the commercial carbonate, it is to be understood that the 
usual variety only is referred to. 
(To be continued.) 
PLANTS AS MANUFACTURERS. * 
(COo) 3 (OH 2 ) 2 (NH 3 ) 4 + 2CaCL 
= 4NH 4 C1 + 2 C 0 3 Ca + CO“ 2 . 
Thirdly, the commercial carbonate loses by exposure a 
proportion of its weight corresponding closely with that 
calculated, as due to carbamate, from the formula de¬ 
duced from my analyses. 
Fourthly, its solubility is about twice as great as that 
of acid carbonate, and of this it contains about half its 
weight, according to the formula I have deduced for it. 
Fifthly, its saturated solution does not seem as if it 
were charged with carbonic anhydride, as does that of 
the half-acid ammonium carbonate. 
Commercial Acid Carbonate .—I have stated that I have 
found one special exception to the uniformity in compo¬ 
sition of the commercial carbonate. This occurred in a 
crystalline layer intimately imited to a barely crystalline 
layer of the ordinary composition. I have already given 
the results of my analyses of this layer of exceptional 
composition. Calculated into parts per cent, they give 
numbers nearly identical with those of the acid carbo¬ 
nate. This layer differed from the other, and the ordi¬ 
nary carbonate, in having scarcely any smell or any am- 
moniacal taste; in dissolving only slowly in the mouth; 
and in not losing its translucency by exposure to the air. 
The occurrence of the acid carbonate in commerce must 
be very rare, because its difference from the ordinary 
carbonate is so striking and such as to render it valueless 
for most of the purposes of pharmacy and medicine for 
which it is required. So far as I am aware, this occur¬ 
rence has only once before been pointed out, and this was 
done nearly fifty years ago by Phillips,* who published 
his analysis of a sample which Henry and ho had 
examined. Like the sample I have examined, this was 
more crystalline than usual. It must not, therefore, be 
concluded, however, that the acid carbonate in this form 
is essentially more crystalline than the ordinary carbo¬ 
nate of commerce; for this is often sent out by the 
manufacturer much more crystalline than the layer of 
the acid carbonate I have described. It was adherent to 
about twice its weight of the ordinary commercial carbo¬ 
nate, so that the cake as a whole had, therefore, the 
mean composition indicated for it by the ‘ British Phar¬ 
macopoeia.’ Thus:— 
Atomic wts. Parts. 
Commer. carb.) , _ 
(C0 2 ) 2 0H 2 (NH 3 )J •••• l£> 7 or 2 
Acid carbonate . 79 0 r 1 
Ammonia; carbonas, B.P. ) 
(CO i ) 3 (OE,).(NH s ) t .. j 
236 or 3 
Mhether this circumstance was accidental or intentional 
on the part of the maker I do not pretend to say. 
The details of the analysis of this layer of acid carbo¬ 
nate have already been given. I have reserved till now 
giving the calculated numbers per cent. With them I 
place those of Phillips:— 
We have been accustomed to admire plants for their 
beauty, to love them for their sweetness, and to prize 
them for the value of their products. But few have any 
clear notions concerning the arduousness of their labours, 
or the importance of the work which they perform. 
The life of plants seems to us a life of ease, a season of 
quiet repose, a waiting for all things to be done for them. 
Such views are wholly mistaken. No life is more fully 
occupied than that of a plant. 
They are manufacturers, it is true, but we never 
hear the clink, crash, whirr, or deafening din of then 
machinery in motion. They darken the heavens with 
no reeking clouds of foul smoke, no hissing volumes of 
spent steam. They both spin and weave, but no rush of 
spindles or sound of shuttles is heard. They pack up 
millions of tons of goods for transportation to the furthest 
ends of the earth, without the aid of hydraulic pressure 
or huge packing-boxes. They lift thousands of tons of 
water and produce from the earth into the air without 
the help of cranes or lifting tackle of any kind. This 
noiselessness is the more marvellous when we remember 
that there is no division of labour in those plant facto¬ 
ries. Each does all its own work for itself. Finishing- 
houses are unknown in these factories; and what perfec¬ 
tion of finish we have in leaf and flower, and root and 
branch, timber and bark! What artist could meddle 
with but to mar the finish of fine fruit and glorious 
flowers. In design, in texture, in skill, and in finish 
plants are far in advance of all human manufactures. 
No skill of man can create a living daisy; but observe 
that humble plant, spreading its few simple leaves on 
the ground; it takes a few atoms of earthy matter, and 
compounds them with some raindrops and a sheathful of 
sunbeams, and forthwith the 
“ Wee, modest, crimson-tipped flower ” 
opens its eyes to gaze upon the sun. 
The basis of all manufacture is raw material. With¬ 
out this nothing can be made. Whence comes the raw 
material of plants ? They are rooted to one spot, and 
have neither carriers, railways, nor fleets of merchant 
vessels at command. How, then, do they get the raw 
material to keep their factories going? In the olden 
times rocks were rent, avalanches rolled, water dashed 
and leaped with wild and hurried steps, strata were de¬ 
nuded and upheaved, volcanos shot out flames of fire 
and showered forth red-hot ashes, and myriads upon 
myriads of living things lived and died, and found 
graves in this great globe—the earth—before the raw 
material for the basement floor of this great plant ma¬ 
nufactory was provided. And now plants draw their 
raw material from the earth, from the waters above, 
upon and under the earth, and from the invisible air. 
The wind is freighted with fresh supplies of raw ma¬ 
terial for plants, the clouds are their water carriers, the 
lightning their swift-winged messenger to announce 
their wants in cloudland or across the earth or ocean, 
and bring back tidings of coming cargoes. The four so- 
called elements of the ancients—earth, air, fire and 
% 
* “ ? n i he Bicarbonate of Ammonia.” * Annals of Philo- * Abstracted from a paper by Mr. D. T. Fish, published 
ophy, vol. xvm. p. 110. in tlie Gardener j Chronicle. 
