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PROCESS  FOR  DETERMINING  THE  VALUE  OF  SOAP. 
Wabei  a  poisonous  tree  which  grows  in  the  Somali  country  on 
the  Habber-Gerhajjis  range  of  the  Gooleis  mountains,  where  it 
attains  the  height  of  twenty  feet.  The  poison  is  obtained  by  boil- 
ing the  root  in  water  until  the  decoction  attain  the  consistency  of 
an  inspissated  juice.  When  cool,  the  barb  of  the  arrow  is  anointed 
with  the  juice  which  is  regarded  as  a  virulent  poison,  rendering  a 
wound  tainted  with  it  incurable.* — Pharm.  Journ.,  Dec,  1853. 
(To  be  continued.) 
PROCESS  FOR  DETERMINING  THE  VALUE  OF  SOAP. 
By  Dr.  Bolley. 
To  determine  the  value  of  a  specimen  of  soap,  it  is  necessary  to 
ascertain, —  1st,  the  per-centage  of  dry  substance  ;  2nd,  the  relative 
proportion  of  fatty  acid  and  alkali;  3rd,  the  kind  of  alkali  and 
fatty  acid,  or  the  substance  replacing  the  latter ;  4th,  the  inten- 
tional or  accidental  admixture  of  foreign  organic  or  inorganic 
substances. 
In  most  instances  the  consumer  merely  determines  the  per-cent- 
age of  water  in  soap,  because  this  is  the  most  usual  and  almost 
unavoidable  admixture,  and  one  which,  as  is  known,  may  be  pre- 
I  quote  the  following  references  from  the  Tentamen  Flora  Abyssinica, 
vol.  i.,  p.  134  : — 
"  Catha  Forskalii,  Nob.,  Catha  No.  4,  Forsk.,  loc.  cit.  [Flor.  JFgypX.  Arab., 
p.  63.]  Trigonotheca  serrata.  Hochs.,  in  pi.  Schimp.  Abyss.,  sect,  ii.,  No. 
649.    Celastrus  edulis.    Vahl.,  Eccl.  i.  21." 
Although  in  the  Flora  JEgyptiaco-Arabica  of  Forskal,  no  specific  name  is 
applied  to  the  Catha  at  p.  63,  it  is  enumerated  as  Catha  edulis  at  p.  107. 
The  reference  to  Celastrus  edulis  is  not  contained  in  the  Eclogce  Americana 
of  Vahl.  but  in  that  author's  Symbolce  Botanicce  (Haunise,  1790,  folio)  pars.  1. 
p.  21. -D.  H. 
*  Some  dried  branches  of  the  Wabei,  as  well  as  a  specimen  of  the  root, 
have  been  forwarded  by  Mr.  Vaughan.  My  friend  Mr.  Kippist  after  a  care- 
ful examination,  has  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  branches  in  question 
Cwhich  unfortunately  bear  neither  flowers  nor  fruit)  have  the  general  aspect 
of  those  of  a  plant  belonging  to  the  nat.  ord.  Apocyncce.  Having  searched  in 
accordance  with  this  suggestion,  I  find  that  Carissa  Schimperi,  Alph.  De  C. 
(Prod.  viii.  p.  675,  bears  an  extremely  close  resemblance,  so  far  as  leaves 
and  stem  are  concerned,  to  Mr.  Vaughan 's  plant.  Carissa  Schimperi  is  des- 
cribed and  figured  by  M.  Richard  in  the  Tentamen  Flora  Abyssinicce,  vol.  ii.} 
p.  31.,  Atlas  Tab.  68.  It  is  synonymous  with  Hochstetter's  Strychnos 
Abyssinica,  writh  Schimper's  specimens  of  which  (Sectio  prima:  Plantae 
Adoenses,  No.  254)  as  contained  in  the  herbarium  of  the  British  Museum 
and  in  that  of  my  friend  Mr.  N.  B.  Ward,  I  find  the  Wabei  very  closely  to 
agree.-- -D.  H. 
