464 
Eeport of the Assistant Chemist op the 
C. Phosphoric Acid. 
Fifty cubic centimeters of the original solution are taken, heated and 
about 15 grams of ammonium nitrate added, then for every decigram of 
P2 O5 50 cc. of molybdic solution are added, kept for one hour at about 
65 C, then a few cc. of the clear solution are tested in a test tube by 
adding fresh molybdic solution and heating over flame ; if no precipitate 
forms, it is filtered and washed with ammonium nitrate solution. The 
precipitate is dissolved on the filter with ammonia and hot water, 
filtrate nearly neutralized with HC1, allowed to cool, then magnesia 
mixture slowly added, stirring constantly. After 15 minutes 25 cc. 
ammonia are added and allowed to stand two hours or more, then 
filtered through a tarred Gooch crucible, washed with dilute ammonia, 
dried, ignited intensely and weighed as Mg2 P2 O7. 
SOME EDIBLE FUNGI. 
Mushrooms — Puff Balls. 
The general impression has prevailed that the nutritive value of the 
various fungi used as food was about equal to that of meat, but a 
recent article by a German chemist,* C. T. Morner, states that this is 
an erroneous impression. Morner says : " The total nitrogen that 
these fungi contain varies between 2 and 3 . 64 per cent in the dry 
material. Forty-one per cent of the total nitrogen is useful in alimen- 
tation; all the rest belongs to non-assimilable bodies. Notwithstanding 
the relatively high figures, fungi constitute a very mediocre food, since 
the figures relate to dry material and fungi contain enormous 
quantities of water." 
Among the tables presented is one giving the amount of the several 
fungi that would be required to equal a pound of beef: 
Mushrooms 9 pounds. 
Lactarius deliciosus 24 " 
Chanterelle 41 
Morel 15 " V 
Polyporus ovinus 67 " 
So conrpletely were the statements of this article at variance with 
the common opinion as to the nutritive value of fungi that I gathered 
and analyzed two of the most common in this vicinity during the 
early autumn. 
Mushrooms. 
A quantity of mushrooms (Agaracus campestris), growing in a 
pasture near the Station, was gathered and subjected to an analysis, 
* L' Engrais ; also Scientific American Supplement, June 11, 1887. 
