TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. 
85 
■ question, which, if ever rased above the surface of the ocean, would present a 
Kntified bed of rock which had been subjected to the most violent disturbance. 
SmExperimenls on ih Hoots of Canna Tiulica, with reference Ut their 
m/w i/i <m (economical point of vieu >. Siy William Tiffin Iliff, 
FL,S. 4^. 
I Dr.Uvnier has been in the habit of growing Ibc Canna Indica in larger quantities 
I Mof doors, several beds being filled with it alone. TTic importance necessarily 
In to uiy article possessing dietetic properties, at a season when ao much anxiety 
iMsiriwn from a fear of scarcity, led me to trespass on Dr. Garnier's attention 
IS urder to ascertaia bow for the roots of the Canna ludica wouhl yield a farcula 
ffuch could be iatrodoceU in lieu of its ally—the Canna Coccinea. The Tona les 
y™, ortbe fiEcula from the Utter plant, has been introduced of late years from the 
H'«t [ndies, as a nutritious article of diet, and strongly recuihmended to the invalid 
# liw of the fECula of the Maranta arunJiKacea or Arrowroot. 1 am indebted to 
th peat kioduesa of Dr. Gamier for a supply of the roots of the Canwa Indica from 
Mftpstoke, and my experiments were made on the produce of one bed about ten 
hi Id diameter, which furnished twenty-four roots. The plants had grown about 
luffct high. Tlie roots when first received weighted 49lhs, on being washed and 
tnmmed, az^lbs. Upon preparation 100 parts of the clean moist root yielded 
n\ moisture, 
19 fibre and soluble matter, 
3^ starch. 
100 
I’jWD drying the root it was found to contain ISJ per cent, of starch. 
For tile careful investigation of the foregoing results I am indebted to the kind- 
‘'Wof Mr. WaringtoD, tlie chemical operator at Apothecaries’ Hall, whose name 
•ill w a sufficient guarantee for the accuracy of the chemical analysis, 
have put up three specimens 
Mo. 1 contains fsccula from Maranta armdinacea. 
No. 2 contains faecula from Cunna Coccinca. 
Mo. 3 contains ftecula from Canna Indica. 
No. 113 from Apothecaries’ Hall. 
Mo. 2 is from the importers, Messrs. Hickson, Welbeck Street. 
Mo. 3 is from the investigations of Mr. Warington and myself. 
some of the Tbaa Ua Moie from a respectable chemist, I found it 
wstam paiiicles so different to those described by Pereira and others, that 1 sent 
Hickson and Son for some, and find it a totally different preparation; it 
2^ composed principally of starch globules, which, like those also of the L'ajmo 
efili.' than the arrowroot. 1 made a jelly from each, by mixing 1 dram 
w Soz.of cold water, and then bringing them tfj the boiling-point; 
k ^ ^ ^ disposed to think the firmness of the jelly is rather in 
Tn i the arrnwroot. . , 
j Bstitate a series of expriments on the comparative nutritious properties ol 
would require a considerable larger quantity than I can procure, anti a 
inv^tigation over some long period of time; but I have thought any one link 
nutritive artidea might deserve a short attention from the 
a, British Association, at any rate afford interest to the b^anist, from 
a treatment adopted towaMs the cultivation of the Caiwa Jndtea 
cwotry being very unusual, and, in the hands of Dr. Garnier, for some years 
“««0'iiently successful. 
im. 
Timlier attached by the larvtr of Callidiuni Bajului 
By the llev. L. Jenyns, JII-A., F.L.S. 
specimens of timber taken from the roof of a church near 
buUt about fifteen years since, which had been completely destroyed by 
