Am.  Jour.  Pharm.") 
Nov.,  1884.  J 
Root  of  Phytolacca  Decandra. 
567 
by  the  addition  of  a  suitable  thermometer,  inserted  through  a  cork 
in  a  proper  opening  in  the  hood,  but  I  think  for  ordinary  purposes 
it  would  be  superfluous. 
I  offer  the  description  of  the  above  distilling  apparatus,  not  with 
any  special  claim  for  originality  or  novelty,  but  simply  as  adaptations 
to  the  needs  of  the  pharmaceutical  laboratory ;  as  such  I  have  found 
them  of  great  practical  value,  and  if  their  employment  aid  to  the 
desirable  end  of  placing  the  pharmacist  in  his  proper  domain  as  a 
producer  rather  than  a  small  dealer,  the  object  of  this  paper  will  be 
fully  attained. 
THE  ROOT  OF  PHYTOLACCA  DECANDRA,  Linn£. 
By  Edmond  Preston,  Jr.,  Ph.G. 
From  an  Inaugural  Essay. 
No  plant  among  us  is  more  conspicuous  in  the  fall  than  the  poke 
for  its  large  clusters  of  annual  purple  stems,  covered  at  the  top  with 
ovate-oblong  leaves,  and  bearing  large  pedunculated  racemes  of  fine 
purple  colored  berries.  A  peculiar  phenomenon  was  noted  while 
observing  Phytolacca  at  night  in  the  fall,  the  leaves  presenting  a  phos- 
phorescent appearance  in  the  dark.  This  peculiarity  not  being  men- 
tioned in  any  of  the  Dispensatories,  a  further  search  was  made  for  a 
record  of  such  a  phenomenon  in  connection  with  this  plant,  and  the 
following  was  found  in  Gmelin's  Chemistry,  vol.  i,  p.  188  : 
"  Some  plants  emit  in  the  dark  a  faint,  continuous  light,  probably 
resulting  from  the  formation  of  some  substance  which  burns  and  emits 
light  at  ordinary  temperatures,  and  consists,  not  of  phosphorus,  but 
more  probably  of  a  compound  containing  carbon  and  hydrogen.  The 
leaves  of  Phytolacca  decandra  have  been  observed  to  shine  in  Septem- 
ber from  9  till  12  o'clock  at  night,  sometimes  with  blueish-green, 
sometimes  with  yellowish-green  light,  accordingly  as  the  current  of 
air  was  stronger  or  weaker ;  they  also  remained  luminous  after  being 
wiped/7 
The  large  perennial  root,  in  some  specimens  from  8  to  10  inches  in 
diameter,  has  an  expanded  crown  where  the  numerous  stems  are  joined. 
This  thick  part  of  the  root  grows  perpendicularly  to  the  depth  of  12 
to  18  inches,  where  it  divides  into  from  two  to  four  nearly  equal 
branches,  which  extend  horizontally,  in  different  directions,  from  6 
