462 
ox THE ANATOMY OF DRUGS. 
the rest in having curious reticulated markings, due to the peculiar character of 
the secondary deposit on the inner side of the cell-wall. But if he will take the 
pod of the Vanilla, and cut a thin section lengthwise, near the outer surface, 
he will be pretty sure to meet with these beautifully marked cells in considerable 
numbers. Every portion of the fruit will repay his labour. The structure of 
the pericarp, the fringe of elongated papillae on its inner surface, the singular 
nature of the seminal bodies, may any of them be made the subject of instructive 
study. 
Reverting to Dr. Berg’s ‘ Atlas,’ the only omission of importance we need re¬ 
mark, so far as Eudogenous plants are concerned, is that of the bulb of Urginea 
Scilla (Squill), which surely ought to have had a place. The corm of the Col- 
chicum is, we perceive, spoken of as a hulh ^—a designation accurate enough for a 
nurseryman’s vocabulary, but scarcely so for scientific purposes. 
The absence of any mention of Aloes, or of the pecuharities of the plants 
yielding the various sorts, is to be regretted, as it gives an effect of incomplete¬ 
ness to the work; for, though it is perfectly true, that no portion of the plants 
themselves appear, in their natural condition, in the category of drugs, a plate 
might v/ell have been spared to elucidate the history of so universally used a 
medicament, and figures of the structure of the leaf, showing the form and 
arrangements of the canals and reservoirs holding the purgative juice, would 
have been the acceptable addition to the illustrations. 
But, as was stated at the outset, the chief importance of Endogenous vege¬ 
tation to mankind rests in the supply of esculent farinaceous substances derived 
therefrom. JN’ot only do wheat, oats, barley, rice, and the rest of the cereal 
grains belong to this class, but sago, arrowroot, tous-les-mois^ plantain-meal, 
Portland arrowroot, and, indeed, almost every starchy material separated on a 
large scale for use in food, excepting, perhaps, potato-flour and tapioca, ate de¬ 
rived from plants belonging to it. 
Any of the cereal grains are worth microscopical examination. The entire 
grain, except certain outer layers, is made up of thin-walled cells loaded with 
starch. The “ bran ” or cuticle of the seed is seen in section to be composed of 
several rows of hard thick-walled cells, and varies considerably in the different 
sorts of grain. Between the cuticle and the starch cells are seen the dark 
coloured gluten cells, consisting in some species of a single series of large angular 
cells, in others of an irregular layer of smaller size arranged two or three deep. 
In rice and maize the starch granules take an angular form and completely flll 
the cavities of the parent cells, and to this may be attributed in part the extreme 
hardness of their tissues. 
The infinite variety in size, form, and appearance of the starch granule, and 
the uniformity in these characters, which prevails in the product of particular 
species, has, in addition to its general interest, a practical value to pharma¬ 
ceutists. All will recollect the beautiful frontispiece plates in Pereira’s Materia 
Medica, second to none that we know of in delicacy and accuracy. In addition 
to the starches there figured, many equally striking may be obtained from the 
refuse of our laboratories. Amongst them may be noted those of ginger (gra¬ 
nules conspicuously laminated). Calabar bean (remarkable for their size), 
calumba, and jalap, from the marc of their respective tinctures, and those of 
ipecacuanha and colchicum from the refuse of wines. The starch is easily 
separated by washing the dregs on a piece of fine muslin to retain the coarser 
tissues. 
The formation of starch has long been a vexed question with vegetable phy¬ 
siologists, and innumerable memoirs have been published advocating as many 
different hypotheses. We would recommend to the notice of any of our readers 
interested in the subject the researches of Mr. Rainey, detailed in a short but 
