178 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\     April,  1882. 
turn  brown  by  sulphuric  acid  and  do  not  reduce  Fehling's  solution ; 
its  specific  rotation  was  -[-65*7°  when  dissolved  by  heat,  and  -I-33'36 
Avhen  dissolved  cold.  On  treatment  with  dilute  sulphuric  acid  an 
invert  sugar  was  obtained,  which  fermented  readily,  rotated  — 20*2°  at 
18°C.,  reduced  Fehling's  solution  like  glucose,  and  could  not  be 
obtained  in  crystals. — Zeitschr.  f.  Physiol.  Chem.,  vi.  No.  2. 
Pinguicula  vulgaris,  Lin.,  popularly  called  butter-wort,  according  to 
Prof.  Russow,  contains  crystalloids  in  the  epidermis  of  the  upper  and 
more  numerous  of  the  lower  surface  of  the  leaves,  in  the  epidermis  of 
the  peduncle,  in  the  stipe  cells  of  the  glaudular  hairs  and  in  the 
pointed  hairs  of  the  throat  of  the  corolla.  These  crystalloids  form 
quadrangular  plates  with  sharp  edges,  are  packed  together  like  coin  in 
rolls,  and  have  a  diameter  of  4  micromillimeters.  The  rather  copious 
secretion  of  albuminous  crystals  in  the  cells  of  the  vegetative  region 
may  possibly  have  some  relation  to  the  well-known  insectivorous  pro- 
perties of  butterwort. — Fh.  Zeit  EussL,  1881,  p.  891  ;  Sitz.  Dorp, 
Noiurf.  Ges. 
The  Olive  tree  Avas  first  planted  in  California  in  1769  by  the  Spanish 
missionaries  at  San  Diego,  the  variety  being  probably  a  wild  one,  as 
its  fruit  is  smaller  and  not  so  abundant  as  the  French  and  Italian 
varieties.  Jerome  J.  B.  Argenti,  in  a  thesis  to  the  California  College 
of  Pharmacy,  states  that  the  olive  is  now  extensively  cultivated  in  the 
southern  and  central  portions  of  that  State  for  the  manufacture  of  the 
oil.  From  the  comparison  of  meteorological  tables  the  author  finds 
the  climate  of  Colfax  to  be  similar  to  that  of  Rome,  Sacramento  to 
Naples,  Los  Angeles  to  Alexandria,  Chico  to  Jerusalem,  and  thinks 
that  the  olive  may  be  still  more  extensively  grown  in  California.  The 
tree  thrives  best  in  a  dry  calcareous  and  sandy  soil,  and  can  be  pro- 
pagated by  seeds,  slips,  cuttings,  suckers  and  from  the  small  sw^ellings 
or  knots  called  novoli  by  the  Italians.  When  the  seed  is  used,  the 
pulp  of  the  fruit  is  removed,  the  stone  is  soaked  in  strong  lye  to  soften 
it,  and  is  then  planted  and  occasionally  watered,  the  seedling  being 
transplanted  when  two  or  three  years  old. 
Cotton-seed  Oil  contains  a  yellow  unsaponifiable  oily  body,  and  its 
admixture  with  olive  oil  may,  according  to  Roediger,  be  detected  by 
saponifying  the  oil  and  treating  the  nearly  dry  soap  with  benzin,  on 
the  evaporation  of  which  golden-yellow  drops  are  left  behind.  This 
yellow  oil  causes  the  ugly  yellow  spots  in  soaps  made  with  cotton-seed 
oil. — Chem.  Zeitung,  1881,  p.  623. 
