240  Reviews,  etc.  I  Am\Jou^  ™arnu 
?  I        April,  1884. 
Ueber  das  Suberin.  Ein  Beitrag  zur  botanischen,  pharmacognostischen , 
und  cheinischen  Kenntniss  des  Korkes  von  Quercus  Suber.  Von  Karl 
Kiigler.    Halle  a  Saale,  1884. 
On  Suberin.  A  contribution  to  the  botanical,  pharmacognostical  and 
chemical  knowledge  of  the  cork  of  Quercus  Suber. 
The  work  for  this  thesis  has  been  done  at  the  University  of  Strassburg, 
and  comprises  more  particularly  the  history  of  the  development  of  cork, 
the  formation  of  cork-cells  and  the  chemical  constituents  of  corks.  Air- 
dry  cork  leaves  between  '53  and  *64  per  cent,  of  ash,  of  which  lime  and 
manganese  form  each  over  25  per  cent.  Chloroform  extracts  from  cork  12 
to  13  per  cent  of  soluble  matter,  about  one  third  of  which  consists  of 
Hohnel's  crystallizable  cerin  C20H32O,  (not  to  be  confounded  with  cerotic 
acid  of  wax,  which  was  formerly  called  cerin.)  Boiling  alcohol  now 
extracts  from  cork  between  5  and  6  per  cent,  of  tannin  and  phlobaphene. 
On  boiling  the  cork  now  with  an  alcoholic  solution  of  potassa,  suberin  was 
extracted  and  decomposed  into  glycerin  (2*65  per  cent.)  and  fatty  acids  (30 
per  cent.)  the  latter  consisting  of  stearic  and phellonic  acid  (C22H4203)  ;  a 
little  coniferin  was  likewise  obtained  and  converted  into  vanillin.  Water 
subsequently  extracted  3  per  cent,  of  humin  compounds,  and  left  22  per 
cent,  of  cellulose.  Though  suberin  is  a  fat,  it  cannot  be  extracted  from 
cork  by  simple  solvents,  because  it  is  doubtless  intimately  inclosed  by  the 
cellulose  molecules.  The  oxidation  products  obtainable  from  cork  by 
means  of  nitric  acid,  like  suberic,  oxalic,  azelaic,  cerinic,  etc.,  acids  are 
derived  from  the  fatty  acids,  and  the  cerinic  acid  is  regarded  as  a  mixture 
of  various  compounds. 
Materia  Medica  e  Therapeutica  Brasileira.  Vec/etaes  tonicos.  These 
inaugural  pelo  Dr.  Francesco  Maria  de  Mello  Oliveira,  etc.,  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  1883.    8vo,  pp.  144. 
Brazilian  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics.    Vegetable  tonics. 
The  flora  of  Brazil,  like  that  of  other  tropical  countries,  is  rich  in  medi- 
cinal and  otherwise  useful  plants.  Several  of  these  have  found  a  perma- 
nent place  in  the  materia  medica  of  most  civilized  countries;  others  have 
occasionally  been  used,  and  many  others  might  doubtless  be  employed  with 
more  or  less  success.  The  treatise  before  us  is  confined  to  plants  possessing 
tonic  properties,  and  does  not  pretend  to  be  exhaustive  of  this  class.  We 
observe  there  accounts  of  such  well  known  plants  and  their  products,  like 
guarana,  mate,  coffee,  coca,  cacao,  remijia,  cinchona,  dorstenia,  vanilla  and 
others,  besides  a  large  number  of  other  plants  which  are  less  known  out- 
side of  Brazil.  The  accounts  of  these  plants  embrace  descriptions  of  the 
plants  and  drugs,  the  chemical  constituents  and  medicinal  properties. 
Besides  a  number  of  wood  cuts,  the  pamphlet  contains  good  lithographs  of 
Taenia  guyanensis  (caferana)  and  Cinchona  Calisaya  {cultivated). 
Cumberland  Almanac  for  the  Year  1884.   Xashville  :  American  Publishing 
Company. 
This  Almanac  was  furnished  to  the  subscribers  of  the  "  Journal  of  Medi- 
cine and  Surgery,"  Nashville. 
