ON  PHLORIDZINE  AND  ITS  USES.  85 
great  pressure.  The  experiments  were  made  with  aragonite  from 
Bilin,  in  Bohemia,  and  with  lithographic  limestone.  In  one  case, 
the  mineral  was  heated  in  a  wrought-iron  cylinder,  and  in  the 
other,  in  a  porcelain  bottle,  special  precautions  being  taken  to 
exclude  the  air,  and  make  the  vessels  as  near  air-tight  as  possi- 
ble. These  were  exposed  to  a  white  heat  for  half  an  hour,  and, 
on  cooling,  both  the  aragonite  and  the  lithographic  limestone 
were  found  to  be  converted  into  crystalline  limestone,  the  former 
very  much  resembling  Carrara  marble,  and  the  latter  a  grayish- 
white  granular  limestone.  The  change  took  place  without  any 
material  decomposition,  the  resulting  marble  containing  a  trifle 
less  carbonic  acid  than  the  lithographic  limestone  from  which  it 
was  produced. — Amer.  Jour.  Sci.  and  Arts,  Sept  1863,  from 
Pogg.  Ann.,  cxviii.  565.  g.  J.  b. 
ON  PHLOKIDZINE  AND  ITS  USES. 
By  Dr.  De.  Kicci. 
Phloridzine  is  a  neutral  principle  existing  in  considerable 
quantities  in  the  bark  of  the  root  of  the  apple,  plum,  and  cherry 
trees,  but  principally  in  the  root  of  the  apple  tree.  It  appears 
in  the  market  in  the  form  of  a  dirty-whitish  powder,  consisting 
of  broken-up,  silky  needles,  somewhat  resembling  quinine  which 
has  not  been  well  bleached,  and  when  rubbed  between  the  fin- 
gers it  has  a  soft,  velvety  feel,  very  like  that  of  French  chalk. 
When  crystallized  by  flow  cooling  from  a  dilute  solution,  pre. 
viously  treated  with  freshly  prepared  animal  charcoal,  phlorid- 
zine may  be  obtained  perfectly  white,  and  in  the  form  of  long 
silk  needles.  Its  taste  is  peculiar,  being  bitter  at  first,  but  after- 
wards somewhat  sweetish,  with  a  flavor  of  apples.  Phloridzine 
differs  from  quinine  by  containing  no  nitrogen  in  its  chemical 
composition,  but  in  this  respect  it  resembles  salicine,  to  which  it 
is  much  allied.  Like  salicine,  it  does  not  combine  with  acids,  to 
form  salts,  is  very  soluble  in  alcohol,  ether,  or  boiling  water, 
but  requires  one  thousand  parts  of  cold  water  for  solution. 
The  cases  in  which  Dr.  De  Ricci  has  employed  phloridzine 
with  most  success  have  been  certain  forms  of  atonic  dyspepsia 
occurring  in  delicate  females,  to  whom  it  was  impossible  to  ad- 
minister either  bark,  quinine,  or  salicine  in  any  shape,  without 
