March 30 , 1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
785 
albumen; the precipitate obtained from this solution 
by chloride of sodium weighed, when dry, 12 grs., 
of which 1 gr. dissolved 100 grs. of coagulated al¬ 
bumen; from this last solution again, bv chloride of 
sodium, 10 grs. of precipitate were obtained, of which 
1 gr. dissolved between 20 and 30 grs. of coagulated 
albumen. In this way the 20 grs. of saccharated 
pepsin, for which I only claim the power to dissolve 
240 grs. of albumen in six hours, dissolved at the 
rate of between 4000 and 5000 grs. 
The solution of 1500 grs. of albumen, obtained by 
fractional addition of albumen and acidulated water 
to an acidulated solution of half a grain of purified 
pepsin, mentioned above, furnished with chloride of 
sodium a precipitate, which also had considerable 
digestive power. 
(To be continued.) 
COORONGITE, OR MINERAL CAOUTCHOUC 
OE SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 
BY JOHN E. JACKSON, A.L.S., 
Curator of the Museums, Kcw. 
(Concluded from page 704.) 
This, then, is an exposition of one side of the 
question, written before the Rev. M. J. Berkeley had 
seen the substance. The following very careful and 
sensible remarks on the other side are abstracted 
from a letter signed, H. T. Whittell, in the Adelaide 
Observer of Sept. 30tli last:—“ Mr. Berkeley is well 
known as one of our highest authorities on the lowest 
forms of vegetable life ; and under ordinary circum¬ 
stances, I should unhesitatingly accept his opinion 
as conclusive; but in the present instance, I wish to 
submit two or three difficulties in the way of the re¬ 
ception of his conclusion, but which he or some com¬ 
petent botanist may be able to remove. I leave out 
of consideration the opposing evidence brought by 
chemical analysts, and confine myself to such as is 
afforded by microscopic examination. My first diffi¬ 
culty arises from the fact that, although there are to 
be seen scattered through the substance indications 
of the remains of organic tissues, I have never been 
able to have a continuous structure of cells or fibre, 
such as can be readily made out in other vegetable 
growths. The second difficulty is found in the ap¬ 
pearance and position of the so-called ‘ gonidia.’ I 
am reluctant to suggest that Mr. Berkeley has taken 
the sporules of a fungoid growth for the gonidia of a 
lichen; but I am not without a suspicion that a 
closer examination may lead him to alter his report. 
If one of the thinner layers of the 4 caoutchouc’ be 
held up to a strong light, there will be s,een in its 
substance a number of black-looking streaks. If a 
section be made so as to intersect one of those 
streaks, it will be found generally (though not in 
every case) that the black streak is in reality a hol¬ 
low space lined with dark brown sporules (?) with a 
lighter coloured mycelium interspersed. The greater 
number of these sporules measure one-3500tli of an 
inch in diamater ( 3^0 inch), but some are as large as 
the 2500th of an inch (^Vo inch). The mycelium 
appears to be formed by the union of small cells end 
to end. If the section has been a fortunate one, the 
preparation is a pretty object for the binocular mi¬ 
croscope with a two-thirds object-glass; but it re¬ 
quires a fifth or an eighth to bring-out the details as 
above described. In some sections the substance 
around the spaces is traversed, as if by extension, 
lor a short distance by branching tubules, resembling 
what I have described as mycelium. My impression 
is that Mr. Berkeley’s further examination will lead 
him to believe that the structures I have described 
are not gonidia; but I shall be willing to accept his 
decision if, after such examination, he sees 110 reason 
for altering his present opinion. My last difficulty 
is, perhaps, the chief one. In the course of my ex¬ 
amination of these sections under medium powers 
(say a fifth), I became aware of the presence of 
several varieties of diatoms imbedded in the sub¬ 
stance of the section. These were not carried from 
the surface by the knife in making the section, but 
were buried, so to speak, in the substance itself, and 
no amount of washing would remove them. The 
principal forms are Naviculve and Cocconemce. The 
endoclirome has disappeared, leaving nothing but the 
silicious valves, on which, in a lucky section, the 
striae, and even dots can be distinctly seen. Since 
I have discovered their presence, I have seldom 
made a thin section without finding them. If the 
substance itself is a lichen, how have these diatoms 
become incorporated in its structure? This is a 
puzzle I am not competent to solve. I content my¬ 
self with stating what the microscope reveals, but I 
must leave the interpretation to others. Meanwhile, 
it would appear that, if further investigation at the 
2 >lace where the 4 caoutchouc’ is found should show 
that the substance is originally exuded in a fluid 
state from the earth or from some vegetable growth, 
and that during its solidification it imbeds the dia¬ 
toms and other organic structures which happen to 
lie in its locality, the result so arrived at would ac¬ 
cord with all that we know at present of the nature 
and composition of the substance in question.” 
We have gone to the length of extracting the bulk 
of these two letters from a mass of correspondence 
on the subject, firstly, because they are fair exposi¬ 
tions of both sides of the question, and secondly, 
with the hope that the remarks contained in them 
may help those who have the opportunity of ex¬ 
amining the substance at home to come to some 
unanimous conclusion as to its true nature, which 
we doubt not will prove to be a hydrocarbon. 
It is but fair to Mr. Berkeley to state that the 
specimen sent to him was very small. 
LICORICE.* 
BY 11. BOTHER. 
The ordinary commercial licorice, whether in sticks or 
powder, is always a very impure substance. The average 
real soluble extract contained in it exceeds not 50 per 
cent., and is usually ^0 deteriorated in the process of 
extraction that it is but a very feeble representative of 
the crude root. The glucoside glycvrrhizin is the repre¬ 
sentative element of the root. Like the glucosides. m 
general it possesses acid properties and combines yith 
bases. In licorice root the greater part is combined 
with ammonia, forming a very soluble salt, decom¬ 
posable by acids with separation of glycyrrhizin, which 
is sparingly soluble in water, but readily soluble in al- 
* As this article is a reprint from an American source, the 
author’s orthography for this word has been retained, although 
“liquorice” is the more common form in this country, but 
perhaps not quite so correct.—Ln- Phabm. Journ. 
