Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1884. 
The  Fruit  of  Opuntia  Vulgaris. 
drug  with  a  menstruum  of  alcohol  3  parts,  water  1  part.    The  fluid 
extract  was  made  with  alcohol,  and  every  cubic  centimeter  represents 
a  gram  of  the  drug.    A  solid  extract  was  also  prepared  by  exhausting 
the  drug  with  alcohol  95  parts  and  glycerin  5  parts. 
The  ash  was  analyzed  with  the  following  results : 
Calcium  carbonate   83"00 
Magnesium  carbonate   1*70 
Aluminum  and  ferric  oxides   2*60 
Calcium  phosphate   1*10  j 
03  ^ 
88-40 
Potassium  chloride   1*30 
Sodium  carbonate   4*50 
Sodium  sulphate   T30 
Sodium  chloride   6'00 
o  ^ 
w  a 
101-50 
101-50 
THE  FRUIT  OF  OPUNTIA  VULGARIS,  Lin. 
By  William  W.  Light,  Ph.G. 
From  an  Inaugural  Essay. 
The  fruit  begins  to  appear  in  July  and  ripens  about  the  middle  of 
October.  It  is  about  an  inch  in  length,  one-half  to  three-fourths  of  an 
inch  in  thickness,  roundish  pear-shaped,  marked  at  the  apex  with  con- 
centric rings,  and  beset  with  rudimentary  bristles  in  spiral  rows.  It  is 
crimson  externally,  and  internally  of  a  still  brighter  color  and  frosty, 
sparkling  appearance,  it  is  covered  with  a  thin  tough  skin,  underlying 
which  is  a  thickish  pulpy  rind.  The  berry-like  fruit  is  filled  with 
seeds  arranged  in  longitudinal  rows  imbedded  in  and  surrounded  by  a 
fleshy  mucilaginous  pulp  and  separated  by  white  dissepiments.  The 
seeds  are  from  eight  to  twenty  in  number,  in  five  rows  alternately 
arranged  with  one  capping-seed,  to  which  the  tough  epidermis,  in  the 
centre  of  the  umbilicated  apex  of  the  fruit,  is  attached.  The  seeds  are 
flattish,  circular  and  uneven,  one-eighth  to  three-sixteenths  of  an  inch 
in  diameter  and  fully  one-eighth  of  an  inch  through  the  thickest  part. 
The  seed  is  anatropous.  The  rhaphe  forms  a  prominent  bony  margin 
nearly  around  the  entire  seed.  The  testa  is  cartilaginous,  of  uneven 
thickness  and  of  a  whitish  color.  The  portion  immediately  surround- 
ing the  chalaza  is  very  thin  and  is  translucent.  The  membraneous 
tegmen  of  the  seed  is  of  a  shining  blackish  brown  color,  which  is  plainly 
