286      Fluorescent  Principle  of  Wild  Cherry  Bark.    {Am  jine!"'i887arm" 
Oil  of  Bay.  The  sp.  gr.  of  this  oil  is  stated  in  the  U.  S.  Pharma- 
copoeia, as  about  1*040.  A  sample  obtained  from  an  American  dis- 
tiller, who  guaranteed  the  purity,  showed  a  sp.  gr.  of  0*9750 ;  another 
sample  from  a  St.  Thomas  distiller,  showed  0*9945 ;  both  of  these 
oils  were  of  fine  odor  and  appearance,  and  would  indicate  that  the 
Pharmacopoeia  had  stated  the  sp.  gr.  a  trifle  high. 
Popp's  stomach  powders.  At  the  suggestion  of  a  customer  for  whom 
I  had  purchased  the  article,  I  made  an  examination  of  the  same  and 
found  each  paper  contained  about  thirty  grains  of  very  coarsely  pow- 
dered sulphide  of  iron  ;  two  dozen  of  these  powders  being  put  up  in  a 
box  for  which  $1.25  was  asked.  This  was  to  me  a  novel  use  of  sul- 
phide of  iron. 
Ground  Flaxseed.  The  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  requires  that  ground 
flaxseed  shall  yield  not  less  than  25  per  cent,  of  fixed  oil  when  ex- 
tracted with  disulphide  of  carbon.  A  sample  recently  ground  to 
order,  yielded  thirty  per  cent,  when  thus  treated,  and  another  lot 
offered  in  the  market,  gave  thirty-one.  This  would  show  that  the 
requirement  is  not  as  full  as  it  should  be. 
Job's  tears.  Coix  Lachryma,  Lin.;  nat.  order  GraminaceaB.  These 
fruits  are  being  again  called  for  occasionally  by  fond  mothers  for  the 
purpose  of  making  into  necklaces  under  the  impression  that  children 
wearing  such  ornaments  will  cut  their  teeth  more  easily.  The  peculi- 
arity of  this  grass  is  the  formation  of  the  pistillate  spikelet  being  one 
to  two  flowered,  inclosed  within  a  bract  which  becomes  a  round  bony 
shining  involucre. 
THE  FLUORESCENT  PRINCIPLE  OF  WILD  CHERRY 
BARK. 
By  E.  Rother. 
A  decided  bluish  fluorescence  occasionally  appears  in  syrup  of  wild 
cherry  bark  ;  but  by  the  use  of  a  menstruum,  rendered  alkaline  with 
ammonia  its  appearance  is  invariable.  The  writer  has  for  some  time 
past  been  in  the  habit  of  employing  an  ammoniacal  menstruum  in  the 
preparation  of  syrup  of  wild  cherry  and  has  never  failed  to  notice  the 
peculiar  aspect  of  the  product. 
In  order  to  ascertain  something  further  about  the  nature  of  this 
result  a  considerable  quantity  of  wild  cherry  bark  in  coarse  powder 
was  percolated  with  an  aqueous  menstruum,  one-eighth  of  which  being 
alcohol,  and  one-sixteenth  of  it  being  18  per  cent,  ammonia  water.  On 
