Am.  Jour.  Ptaarm.) 
April,  1896.  J 
Aril  of  Celastrus  Scandens. 
183 
liquid  was  golden-yellow  in  color;  on  the  addition  of  potassium 
hydrate  solution,  its  color  changed  to  a  reddish  shade.  The  pre- 
cipitate was  readily  soluble  in  ammonia  water,  with  a  yellow  color. 
By  this  process  I  found  only  o  62  per  cent,  of  asparagin  to  be 
present.  It  will  be  seen  in  the  first  part  of  this  contribution  that 
the  total  amount  of  alkaline  extractive  represented  20-56  per  cent, 
of  the  drug,  and  that  18-40  per  cent,  were  precipitated  as  albumin- 
oids and  pectin,  whereas  the  total  amount  of  albuminoids,  as 
calculated  from  the  amount  of  nitrogen  present,  represented  22-50 
per  cent.  Previous  investigators  have  shown,  however,  that  the 
albuminoids  of  senega  are  partly  soluble  in  water,  and  it  is,  there- 
fore, likely  that  a  portion  was  extracted  by  the  distilled  water  pre- 
vious to  maceration  with  alkaline  water. 
I  beg  to  express  my  thanks  to  Professor  Trimble  for  his  many 
suggestions  and  valuable  aid. 
March,  1896. 
THE  COLORING  MATTER  OF  THE  ARIL  OF  CELASTRUS 
SCANDENS.1 
By  Ida  A.  KeixER,  Ph.D. 
This  paper  contains  the  following  general  observations  on  the 
coloring  matters  of  plants.  The  protoplasmic  corpuscles  have  been 
appropriately  designated  chromatophores.  It  has  been  observed 
that,  as  a  rule,  yellow,  orange  and  brown  (sometimes  blue)  coloring 
matters  are  deposited  in  such  chromatophores ;  while  white,  violet, 
blue  and  red  (sometimes  yellow)  are  usually  caused  by  a  solution  of 
the  pigment  in  the  ceil  sap.  It  has  been  found  desirable  to  make  a 
distinction  between  the  kinds  of  chromatophores.  They  are,  for 
convenience,  classified  as  follows:  chloroplasts,  chromop^sts  and 
leucoplasts  ;  the  latter  class,  which  are  the  colorless  color  bearers, 
being  one  of  the  contradictions  in  which  the  systems  of  human 
classifications  abound.  The  bond  of  sympathy  is,  however,  their 
common  origin — the  fact  that  one  may  be  converted  into  the  other, 
according  to  the  conditions,  and  each  one  can  originate  only  as  a 
result  of  the  division  of  pre-existing  chromatophores. 
1  A  paper  read  before  the  Botanical  Section  of  the  Academy  of  Natural 
Sciences  of  Philadelphia,  and  abstracted  and  condensed  for  the  American 
Journal  of  Pharmacy.  G.  M.  B. 
