456  SuceiniG  Acidfnnn  Bark  of  Mo  nix  Alba.     { "^'^  sepi'^-iS? 
aliuuiiiium  citrate,  3C6HP7(NH,)2H  +  [C6KA(NH,)J3A1,  +  GH^O, 
will8ej)arate  out.  A  similar  iron  salt  was  ol)taiiKHl,  a  solution  of  wliicli 
gives  no  precipitate  with  succinic  and  benzoic  acids,  no  coloration  witli 
po(:assiuin  thiocyanate,  and  no  precipitate  l)ut  only  a  green  coloration 
with  potassium  ferrocyanide.  The  author  also  prepared  and  analyzed 
analogous  double  citrates  of  ammonium  and  magnesium,  manganese, 
nickel,  cobalt,  zinc,  copper,  and  mercury,  but  was  unable  to  obtain 
salts  of  antimony,  bismuth,  tin,  or  silver. — Jour.  Chem.  Soc,  June,  1882; 
from  Ann.  Chim.  Phys.  [5],  xxv,  233. 
OCCURRENCE  OF  SUCCINIC  ACID  IN  AN  INCRUSTA- 
TION ON  THE  BARK  OF  ^^MORUS  ALBA." 
By  G.  Goldschmidt. 
The  author  had  ofteu  observed  on  the  stems  of  mulberry-trees,  both 
young  and  old,  the  exudation  of  a  liquid,  which  dried  up  to  crystal- 
line crusts,  especially  on  the  side  exposed  to  the  wind.  This  liquid, 
which  has  a  saline  taste,  was  found  to  consist  of  a  solution  of  calcium 
succinate,  C4ll40Ca,  which,  after  several  recrystallizations  with  the  aid 
of  animal  charcoal,  melted  at  180°,  and  was  converted  by  distillation 
into  the  anhydride  melting  at  160°.  The  liquid  also  contained  a  small 
quantity  of  calcium  carbonate. 
The  occurrence  of  exudations  on  mulberry-trees  was  observed  long 
ago  by  Klaproth,  who  regarded  them  as  consisting  of  the  calcium  salt 
of  an  acid  which  he  called  "  Maulbeerholzsaure,"  and  similar  observa- 
tions were  afterwards  made  by  Landerer.  Gmelin,  ^'Handbook,''  Engl. 
Ed.,  8,  109)  suggests  that  the  acid  found  by  these  chemists  was  nothing 
but  succinic  acid,  a  suggestion  which  is  corroborated  by  the  observa- 
tions above  mentioned. 
The  occurrence  of  succinic  acid  in  the  juices  of  a  large  number  of 
herbs  has  long  been  noticed  ;  but  it  has  not  hitherto  been  found  in 
liquids  exuding  from  trees ;  and  this  circumstance,  together  with  the 
observation  that  on  all  parts  of  the  bark  where  the  exudation  occurred, 
a  brown  hunuis-like  substance  was  also  found,  induced  the  author  to 
think  that  the  succinic  acid  in  this  case  might  perhaps  be,  not  a  physio- 
logical secretion,  but  the  product  of  a  pathological  })rocess. 
To  throw  light  on  this  question,  he  submitted  the  humus-like 
substance  to  the  examination  of  Professor  Wiesner,  who  found  it  to 
consist  of  drierl  plasmodia  and  sporiferous  receptacles  of  a  myxomices, 
