40 
SOURCES OF AMYGD ALINE. 
ON THE SOURCES OF AMYGD ALINE. 
By Wilh. Wicke. 
Amygdaline appears to be more general and of a greater bo- 
tanico-physiological importance than has hitherto been supposed ; 
and the following experiments show, that it is almost a general 
constituent of the Pomacere. Its presence has been proved by sub- 
mitting parts of the various plants with water to distillation, and 
testing the distillate with a salt of iron for prussic acid, under the 
conviction that no other vegetable matter but amygdaline possesses 
the property of generating, under these circumstances, prussic acid. 
The experiments were performed in the month of May, in the la- 
boratory at Gottingen. 
1. POMACES. 
Pyrus Malus. — The distillate of the green leaves of the bark 
and of the flower-buds contained no prussic acid. 
Sorbus Jlucuparia. — The young shoots and the unfolded leaves 
yielded a strong hydrocyanic distillate ; as did also the leaf-pinnae, 
the petioles, and especially the bark. On the other hand, the 
distillate of the flower buds, which had been broken off short from 
the penduncles, showed no hydrocyanic reaction. 
Sorbus hybrida. — Hydrocyanic acid is contained in the bark, 
and still more abundantly in the young shoots of this tree, which 
grows wild in the south of Sweden, and occurs singly in Thuringia. 
The reaction was not so strong in the distillate of the leaflets and 
of the petioles, whilst that of the developed flowers became at 
first bluish, and only after a few days flocculi of Prussian blue 
were deposited. 
Sorbus torminalis. — The distillate of the already far advanced 
shoots, divested of the leaves, smelt strong of prussic acid, and 
yielded immediately a proportionately abundant precipitate of 
Prussian blue. A large quantity of leaves yielded a distillate, 
which became only bluish on being tested. The distillate of the 
flowers smelt of prussic acid, and corresponded nearly with that of 
the shoots. The distillate of the bark and flower-stalks resembles 
that of the leaves. 
Amalanchier vulgaris. — The bark, taken from the preceding 
year's branches, contained a very large proportion of prussic acid # 
