Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
March,  1884.  j 
Ceanothus  Americanus. 
131 
Mr.  Charles  W.  Burr  has  detected  starch  in  the  roots  of  Coptistrifolia. 
In  Coptis  Teeta,  Wallich,  found  in  the  Mishmi  Mountains,  eastward 
of  Assam,  and  recognized  by  Fliickiger  and  Han  bury  as  the  officinal 
coptis,  starch  is  known  to  be  present;  though  in  1873  Mr.  E.  B.  Gross 
failed  to  detect  it  in  our  American  Coptis  trifolia.  Mr.  Burr  has 
repeatedly  verified  his  observation  on  authentic  specimens. 
Mr.  Wm.  C.  McFetridge,  p  4 
working  upon  the  Apocynum 
cannabinum,    succeeded  in 
isolating   very   readily  the 
laticiferous  vessels.    The  il- 
lustration shows  this  quite 
clearly  on  longitudinal  sec- 
tion.    A  transverse  section 
shows  the  same  tissue  in  a  very  striking  man- 
ner, with  this  difference,  that  in  the  latter  case 
the  vessels  are  seen  as  oval,  isolated  openings, 
containing  bodies  of  granular    matter  inside 
a  very  delicate  cell  wall.    There  are  two  special 
points  about  these   vessels   in   this  species; 
first  the  ease  with  which  they  may  be  studied, 
and  second,  their  relation  to  the  rather  anoma- 
lous laticiferous  vessels  in  the  various  cinchona 
barks. 
ANALYSIS  OF  THE  LEAVES  OF  CEANOTHUS  AMERI- 
CANUS, LlNNE. 
By  J.  H.  M.  Clincpi,  Ph.G. 
From  an  Inaugural  Essay. 
Five  grams  of  the  air-dry  leaves  subjected  to  a  heat  of  100  °C.  until 
they  ceased  to  lose  weight,  weighed  4*455  grams,  showing  a  loss  of 
•545  grams  ==  10*9  per  cent,  amount  of  moisture. 
Forty  grams  of  the  air-dry  leaves  were  incinerated  and  yielded  1*895 
grams  of  ash  ==  5*31  per  cent.,  of  which  50*526  per  cent,  was  soluble 
in  water,  48*629  per  cent,  was  soluble  in  hydrochloric  acid,  *8  percent, 
was  soluble  in  boiling  sodic  hydrate.  An  analysis  showed  the  presence 
of  potassium,  calcium,  magnesium,  aluminium,  iron  and  silica,  com- 
bined as  chlorides  and  sulphates  in  the  aqueous  solution,  and  as 
