VARIETIES. 
bined to form water, the affinity of the single constituents of chloride of zinc 
are unable to destroy this combination ; and that, if the combinations are 
actually destroyed, as is the case in the present experiment, the oxygen and 
hydrogen cannot be united as water. 
This experiment refutes the theory, according to which alcohol is said to 
be the hydrate of ether, and serves to corroborate the fact, that ether can in 
no way be changed again into alcohol by communicating water to it. If, 
therefore, alcohol does not contain ready-formed water, it cannot be changed 
into ether by mere water-abstracting power, but only by water-generating 
power. And with this all experiments agree. Chloride of calcium merely 
abstracts water, but does not generate ether, for its constituents have so 
strong an affinity for one another, that they cannot be separated by the 
simultaneous attraction of the oxygen and hydrogen contained in the alcohol. 
Chloride of tin, chloride of antimony, and chloride of iron act in a similar 
manner to the chloride of zinc, destroying alcohol and generating ether ; as 
also fluoride of boron and fluoride of silicon, which substances do even decom- 
pose the water and generate hydrofiuosilic acid and boracic or silicic acid. 
These facts speak strongly in favor of Dr. Mohr's theory of the generation 
of ether. — Buchner's Repert. and Pharm. Journ. 
On the Datura Sanguinea. By M. Berthold Seemann, Naturalist of 
H. M. S. Herald. — The Florispondio (Datura sanguinea, Buiz et Pav.) 
appears to have always played, and still continues to play, a prominent 
part in the superstition of tropical America. The Indians of Darien, as 
well as those of Choco, prepare from its seeds a deeoction, which is given 
to their children to produce a state of excitement in which they are supposed 
to possess the power of discovering gold. In any place where the unhappy 
patients happen to fall down, digging is commenced ; and, as the soil nearly 
everywhere abounds with gold-dust, an amount of more or less value is 
obtained. In order to counteract the bad effect of the poison, some sour 
Chica de Maiz, a beer made of Indian corn, is administered. — Hooker's Journ. 
Botany, and Ibid. 
On the Palo de Velas or Candle- Tree. (Parmentiera cereifera, Seem.) By 
M. Berthold Seemann. — This tree is confined to the valley of the Chagres, 
where it forms entire forests. In entering them, a person might almost 
fancy himself transported into a chandler's shop. From all the stems and 
lower branches hang long cylindrical fruits, of a yellow wax-color, so much 
resembling a candle as to have given rise to the popular appellation. The 
fruit is generally from two to three, but not unfrequently four feet long, 
and an inch in diameter. The tree itself is about twenty -four feet high, 
with opposite, trifoliolated leaves and large white blossoms, which appear 
throughout the year, but are in greatest abundance during the rainy season. 
The Palo de velas belongs to the natural order Crescentiaceoz, and is a Par- 
