296 
Strontium  in  Plants. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
June,  1897. 
One  of  the  reactions  on  which  I  depend  to  some  extent  is  that  of 
Rubner,  and  also  its  modification  by  Penzoldt;  but  even  here  the 
question  will  arise  whether  or  not  the  same  reaction  is  given  by- 
other  compounds.  Rubner  uses  3  grammes  lead  acetate  to  10  c.c. 
urine,  filters,  and  adds  ammonia  water  until  a  permanent  precipitate 
is  formed  and  then  warms  to  about  8o°  C.  The  presence  of  sugar  is 
indicated  by  the  precipitate  becoming  pink  or  red,  depending  on 
the  percentage.  Penzoldt  uses  the  subacetate  of  lead  in  place  of  the 
neutral  acetate,  and  proceeds  as  in  the  original  reaction. 
1   ON  THE  OCCURRENCE  OF  STRONTIUM  IN  PLANTS. 
By  Henry  Trimble. 
Contribution  from  the  Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of 
Pharmacy.    No.  166. 
Some  months  ago  a  number  of  barks  were  received  from  Dr.  H. 
N.  Ridley,  of  the  Botanic  Gardens  at  Singapore.  They  were 
chiefly  barks  representing  the  several  species  of  the  genus  Castan- 
opsis  in  that  locality,  and  two  species  of  oaks.  The  primary  object 
in  examining  these  barks  was  to  learn  the  character  of  their 
tannins,  but  that  is  reserved  for  a  later  article. 
In  examining  the  ash  of  these  barks  a  slight  precipitate  was 
noticed  for  strontium  in  the  first  one ;  this  was  passed  by  as 
being  a  small  quantity  of  calcium,  which  was  the  most  abundant 
constituent  in  the  ash.  But  the  ash  of  other  samples  also  yielded 
precipitates  indicating  strontium,  some  of  them  in  such  quantity 
that  the  precipitate  was  washed  thoroughly,  treated  with  a  few 
drops  of  concentrated  hydrochloric  acid,  and  the  flame  test  applied ; 
the  result  in  every  case  was  a  distinct  strontium  flame.  The  stron- 
tium precipitate  was  gotten  by  three  methods,  viz.:  precipitating 
with  very  dilute  sulphuric  acid,  precipitating  with  an  alkaline  solu- 
tion of  potassium  chromate,  and,  finally,  by  precipitating  with  solu- 
tion of  calcium  sulphate. 
The  samples  of  Castanopsis  were  from  the  following :  C.  Walli- 
chiana,  C.  Curtisii  (two  samples),  C.  Javanica,  and  C.  Hulettii.  The 
oak  samples  were  from  Quercus  hystrix  and  Q.  discocarpa.  The 
Quercus  hystrix  was  probably  the  richest  in  strontium  of  all  the 
samples.  None  of  them  contained  more  than  traces  of  the  stron- 
tium salt.  A  sample  of  our  American  Castanopsis,  C.  chrysophylla, 
