60 
CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  THE  PHYSIOLOGY  OF  THE  SPIEACE-E. 
acid.  Their  taste  is  balsamic,  astringent,  bitter,  resembling  wil- 
low bark.  When  the  flowers  are  distilled  a  small  quantity  of 
salicylic  acid  passes  over,  but  the  residue  yields  a  fresh  quantity 
of  the  acid  when  treated  with  bichromate  of  potash  and  sulphuric 
acid,  as  would  be  the  case  if  they  contain  salicin. 
The  author  then  extracted  the  flower  buds  with  boiling  water, 
treated  the  liquid  with  neutral  and  afterwards  with  basic  acetate 
of  lead.  Both  salts  produced  bright  yellow  precipitates,  the 
quantity  of  that  produced  by  the  former  salt  being  much  the 
largest. 
The  colorless  liquid  left  after  perfect  precipitation  and  filtering 
was  freed  from  lead  by  sulphuretted  hydrogen  and  evaporated. 
A  brownish  very  sweet  and  bitter  syrupy  residue  remained,  which 
dissolved  partially  in  alcohol.  This  alcoholic  solution  left  on 
evaporation  an  amorphous  viscous  mass  with  a  persistent  bitter 
taste  ;  with  concentrated  sulphuric  acid  it  gave  a  red  color ;  by 
distillation  with  bichromate  of  potash  and  dilute  sulphuric  acid  it 
yielded  besides  formic  acid  oily  drops  of  salicylic  acid.  Even 
after  standing  for  a  year  the  syrupy  liquid  furnished  no  crystals 
of  salicine,  doubtless  on  account  of  the  preponderating  quantity  of 
amorphous  sugar  present. 
It  follows,  therefore,  from  these  reactions  and  others  which 
were  tried,  that  the  salicylic  acid  generated  in  the  development  of 
the  bud  to  the  flower  originates  from  salicine. 
The  two  lead  precipitates  above  mentioned  appear  to  contain 
the  same  organic  substances,  probably  citric  acid  and  a  variety  of 
tannin — London  Pharmaceutical  Journal,  from  JSreues  Reperto- 
rium  fur  Phannacie,  1853. 
CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  THE  PHYSIOLOGY  OF  THE  SPIRACE.E. 
By  W.  Wicke. 
The  above  experiments  of  Buchner  acquire  an  especial  interest 
from  the  following  observations  of  "Wicke.  He  finds  that  salicy- 
lic acid,  or  at  least  the  substance  from  which  it  is  produced,  is 
very  generally  present  in  the  members  of  the  family  spiraceae  and 
in  the  various  organs  ;  and,  secondly,  that  the  shrubby  spiraceae, 
which  are  evidently  more  closely  allied  to  the  pomaceae  than  the 
herbaceous  members  of  the  former  family,  contain  amygdalin. 
