82 
MISCELLANY. 
Adulteration of iodine. — Stieren has detected several adulterations of 
iodine by dissolving the latter in spirit. The impurity remains undis- 
solved, consisting sometimes of iron, silica and alumina, at other times 
of iron containing carbonaceous matter. Buchner has found glance coal. 
JBuchner^s Report and Records of General Science. 
Morphia in native green poppy heads. — According to Du Menil, morphia 
exists in common poppy heads, but in small quantity. He evaporated 
the expressed juice of the poppy head in a water bath to the consistence 
of honey, exhausted the residue with spirit of 80 per cent., slightly ren- 
dered acid by sulphuric acid, distilled the greenish solution, added water 
to it, filtered it, neutralized the solution with ammonia, although not com- 
pletely, precipitated it by a solution of galls, collected the precipitate, 
washed it, digested it with lime water, dried the mixture in a water bath, 
pulverized it, digested it with spirit and distilled. The residual solution 
left behind a small quantity of a resinous matter (3 lbs. poppy heads 
gave i gr.) which tasted somewhat bitter, and was coloured scarlet by 
concentrated nitric acid, and blueish by chloride of iron. 
Records of General Science from Central-Blatt. 
Cochineal of Ararat. — In that part of Armenia which is now incorporated 
with the Russian empire, in the province of Erivan, and in the vallies of 
Araxes, a species of cochineal insect is found, which, according to M. 
Hamel, appears to be unknown to naturalists. It is met with principally in 
the villages of Schorly, Sarwanlar, Nedscely, Hassan, Abad, &c. M. 
Hamel, by giving a view of the different authorities who have mentioned 
it, shows that it enjoyed an important rank in commerce until the period 
when the American cochineal shut it out of the market. It is very distinct 
from the cochineal of Poland. A pound of Armenian cochineal contains 
only from 18 to 23 thousand insects, while that of Mexico contains 20 to 
25 thousand, and that of Poland 100 to 130 thousand. It contains also 
more colouring matter in an equal weight than the Polish. It is found 
abundantly on the roots of the ^rolupus laevis (Trinius), a plant which 
grows abundantly in Erivan. Brandt proposes to call it Porphyrophora 
Hamelii. Records of Gen. Science. 
Inferiority of English to China Ink. — The directors of the Bengal bank 
lately refused payment for a number of bank notes, in consequence of their 
containing no signature. It appeared that they belonged to a Hindoo, 
who had kept them in a copper box. He asserted that they originally 
possessed the signatures of the director, comptroller, cashier, &c. but 
that they had been effaced. The notes on which the signatures had been 
written with China ink remained uneffaced, but all the writing with En- 
glish ink had completely disappeared. Mr. Princes sin order to determine 
