DR.  WORMLEY'S  TEST  FOR  FREE  SULPHURIC  ACID.  107 
flowers  and  ripe  seeds),  which  again  Mr.  K.  has  omitted  to  send 
you. 
Consulting  my  herbarium  and  those  of  the  Academy  of  Nat. 
Sciences,  I  find  in  them  specimens  of  an  umbelliferous  plant, 
very  common  in  Western  Texas  and  New  Mexico,  which  I  have 
many  reasons  to  consider  as  this  very  Osha  plant.  It  is  one 
that  Dr.  Engelmann  and  Gray  have  described  in  Plantoe  Lind- 
heimerianoe  under  the  names  of  Daucosma  laciniata  ;  "  Herba- 
glabra,  odore  forte,  Dauci  (undc  nomeri),  caulibus  2-3  pedalibus, 
ramosis,  striatis,  faretis  ;  foUis  ternati-quinati-sectis  ;  segmentis 
o-partitis  ;  lobis  laciniatis,  venosis,  lanceolatis."  This  plant  is 
said  to  cover  large  patches,  of  moist  prairie  land,  &c.  Thus  far 
this  description  agrees  perfectly  with  the  Osha  of  Mr.  Krum- 
meck.  Immersed  in  boiling  water,  this  root  has  a  very  strong 
smell  of  carot. 
When  Mr.  K.  sends  you  good  specimens  of  the  plants  (ripe 
seeds,  flowers  and  all),  I  doubt  not  that  I  shall  be  able  to  de- 
termine it  with  certainty.  The  vegetation  of  New  Mexico  and 
Texas  is  nearly  as  well  known  as  that  of  Pennsylvania,  these 
regions  having  been  successively  visited  by  excellent  botanists 
and  experienced  collectors,  such  as  Lindheimer,  Fendler,  Chas. 
Wright  and  others.  E.  Durand. 
Philadelphia,  Dec.  5th,  1867. 
NOTE  ON  DR.  WORMLEY'S  TEST  FOR  FREE  SULPHURIC 
ACID. 
Middletown,  New  York,  Jan.  30,  1868. 
Mr.  Editor. 
Dear  Sir. — At  the  close  of  a  review  of  Dr.  Wormley's 
work  on  "  Micro-chemistry  of  Poisons,"  in  the  Sept.  No.  of  the 
Journal,  1867,  page  479,  reference  is  made  to  his  test  for  mi- 
nute quantities  of  free  sulphuric  acid,  viz.,  Veratria. 
In  making  an  application  of  this  test  to  detect  sulphuric  acid 
in  cider  vinegar,  I  failed  to  get  satisfactory  reactions,  and  found 
that  the  presence  of  organic  matters,  such  as  grape  sugar,  cane 
sugar  and  extractive,  prevented  or  masked  the  reactions,  giving 
a  brown  or  black  residue. 
Pure  acetic  acid  does  not  interfere  with  the  test. 
James  T.  King. 
