30 
ON  MAGNOLIA  GLAUCA. 
and  smooth  internally,  of  an  aromatic  odor  and  strong  pungent, 
bitter  taste,  which  is  retained  when  the  bark  is  dried. 
The  bark  of  the  trunk  is  smooth,  somewhat  glaucous  ex- 
ternally, and  nearly  white  internally.  When,  recent,  it  has  an 
aromatic  odor  and  bitter  taste,  but  by  drying,  these  are  entirely 
lost.  The  leaves  are  deep  green  above  and  glaucous  beneath. 
When  bruised  they  have  a  disagreeable  odor  and  a  pungent 
bitter  and  acrid  taste,  which  are  entirely  lost  by  drying.  The 
flowers  are  highly  and  very  agreeably  odorous,  and  perfume  the 
atmosphere  where  they  grow  in  abundance. 
The  fruit  is  conical,  an  inch  to  an  inch  and  a  half  long,  at 
first  green,  then  of  a  pale  red,  composed  of  numerous  cells, 
each  opening  externally  by  a  fissure  through  which  the  deep 
red  or  scarlet  seeds  escape  and  hang  by  a  filament.  These  are 
about  the  size  of  a  pear.  The  kernels  of  the  seed  are  extremely 
pungent  and  acrid  to  the  taste,  and  irritate  the  throat  when 
chewed. 
CHEMICAL  EXAMINATION. 
This  species  of  Magnolia  appears  to  have  attracted  but  little 
notice  from  chemists.  The  bark  of  Magnolia  grandiflora  was 
found  by  Dr.  Stephen  Procter  to  contain  a  crystalline  principle 
analogous  to  the  Liriodendrin  of  Prof.  Emmet,  in  many  of  its 
properties. 
Bark  of  the  root  An  infusion  was  made  in  the  proportion  of 
an  ounce  to  four  fluid  ounces  of  water.  Its  reaction  was 
slightly  acid,  it  was  not  precipitated  by  alcohol,  very  slightly  by 
subacetate  of  lead,  slightly  by  oxalate  of  ammonia,  and  not  at 
all  by  nitrate  of  mercury  or  tincture  of  iodine. 
When  distilled  with  water,  the  recent  bark  affords  an  opales- 
cent distillate  from  which  a  minute  proportion  of  volatile  oil 
separates  on  standing  and  floats  upon  the  surface. 
Half  a  pound  of  the  dried  bark  was  exhausted  with  alcohol 
.95  per  cent.,  and  when  evaporated  spontaneously  afforded  a 
hard  brownish  black  extract,  possessing  a  spicy  odor  and  bitter, 
pungent,  acrid  taste,  which  caused  a  sense  of  burning  in  the 
throat  when  swallowed.  This  extract  was  treated  (in  the  man- 
ner directed  by  Dr.  Procter,  (see  vol.  14th,  page  89,  of  this 
Journal)  with  a  mixture  of  1  part  of  liquor  potassae  and  sixteen 
