564 
Laboratory  Notes. 
(  Am  Jour.  Pharm. 
t      Dec,  1878. 
rated  very  slowly  on  simple  exposure  to  the  air.  Mr.  Clothier,  in  1862, 
found  no  volatile  oil,  which  may  have  been  due  to  the  solubility  of  the 
oil  in  water  not  saturated  with  sodium  chloride.  In  farther  operations, 
albumen,  starch,  gum,  wax,  resins,  fixed  oil  and  glucose  were  found. 
The  details  of  the  processes,  here  omitted,  are  given  in  a  fuller  report 
preserved  at  the  university. 
What  medicinal  properties,  if  any,  belong  to  the  volatile  oil  and  the 
resins  we  are  at  present  unable  to  declare.  The  euonymin  of  the  list 
of  "concentrated  remedies"  contains  both  resin  and  volatile  oil.  Its 
virtues,  though  due  chiefly  to  the  glucoside,  may  be  modified  by  the 
resins  and  oil,  and  diminished  by  inert  material. 
III.  A  Partial  Analysis  of  the  Oxytropis  Lamberti,  the  So- 
called  Crazy  Weed  of  Southern  Colorado. 
In  the  spring  of  1876  a  resident  of  Rosita,  Col.,  sent  some  speci- 
mens of  a  weed  which  he  called  "  crazy  weed,"  and  which  he  said 
was  sometimes  called  milfoil  or  yarrow.  He  wrote  that  it  was  poison- 
ous to  horses  and  cattle  ;  that  he  had  lost  a  number  of  horses  by  their 
acquiring  a  taste  for  it.  When  horses  have  once  tasted  of  it  they  will 
eat  nothing  else.  The  symptoms  resemble  founder  and  paralysis  of 
the  nervous  system.  The  Mexicans  of  that  country  sometimes  use  it 
in  making  beer,  and  its  effects  upon  men  seem  to  be  about  the  same  as 
upon  animals. 
The  examination  of  the  plant  was  assigned  to  Miss  Catherine 
M.  Watson.  It  was  identified  as  Oxytropis  Lamberti,  nat.  ord., 
Leguminosse. 
The  fresh  root  is,  externally,  of  a  yellowish-brown  color.  It  is  very 
flexible  and  tough,  and  may  easily  be  torn  into  long  fibrous  strings. 
The  transverse  section  shows  a  thick,  whitish  bark  surrounding  a 
bright  yellow  woody  column.  The  root  has  a  peculiar  and  disagree- 
able odor,  and  a  sweet  taste  resembling  that  of  green  peas.  Under  the 
microscope,  from  the  outside  toward  the  centre,  the  tissues  appear  as 
follows  : 
1.  The  epidermis,  consisting  of  two  rows  of  tabular  weathered, 
brownish  cells. 
2.  A  broad  zone  of  parenchyma,  interrupted  by  wedges  of  liber 
fibre,  which  have  their  bases  toward  the  axis  of  the  root  or  against  the 
bases  of  the 
