Am'jJu°iy?i9>o16arm' }  London  Botanic  Gardens,  317 
A  specific  favoring  action  of  alkaloids  for  each  species  is  indi- 
cated. 
The  results  with  strychnine  in  general  accord  with  the  diastase 
tests. 
ADDENDUM. 
Several  species  have  been  tested  as  to  the  action  of  alkaloids  upon 
the  oxidase.  The  intensity  of  the  blue  color  with  guaiac  with  the 
same  dilution  showed  whether  the  alkaloid  hindered,  aided,  or  was 
indifferent.  In  general  the  alkaloids  which  favored  the  diastatic 
action  hindered  the  oxidase. 
Brucine  appeared  especially  injurious  to  the  action  of  the  oxidase, 
and  strychnine  almost  equally  so  in  the  very  species  where  the 
alkaloids  favored  the  action  of  the  diastase.  On  the  contrary, 
principles  injuring  the  diastatic  action,  as  anemonol,  aided  the  oxidase 
action.  In  a  number  of  species  examined  oxidases  appeared  very 
active  in  Gilia,  Quincula,  Sphaeralcea,  and  other  variable  species,  as 
certain  Cacti,  while  Anemone,  Delphinium,  and  species  containing 
active  principles  gave  little  or  no  oxidase  reaction.  Alkaloids 
aid  oxidation  and  it  is  possible  that  in  plants  lacking  in  oxidases 
the  alkaloid  renders  more  efficient  the  oxydizing  capacity  of  the 
vegetable  cell. 
LONDON  BOTANIC  GARDENS. 
By  Pierre  Eue  Feux  Perredes,  B.Sc,  F.L.S., 
Pharmaceutical  Chemist. 
A  Contribution  from  the  Wellcome  Research  Laboratories,  London. 
(Continued  from  p.  280.) 
The  description  of  the  present  collections  will  be  dealt  with  in 
the  next  section,  but  before  passing  on  to  this  we  will  consider  very 
briefly  some  of  the  more  noteworthy  publications  which  have  been 
mentioned  in  the  preceding  pages.  The  majority  of  these,  as  one 
would  expect,  were  expressly  designed  for  the  use  of  students.  The 
following,  for  instance,  are  all  embraced  in  that  category :  Dale's 
Pharmacologia,  Joseph  Miller's  Botanicum  Officinale,  the  catalogues 
of  Philip  Miller  and  Isaac  Rand,  Philip  Miller's  "  Short  Introduction 
to  the  Knowledge  of  the  Science  of  Botany,"  Curtis's  "  Linnaeus's 
System  of  Botany  "  and  his  "  Lectures  on  Botany,"  J.  L.  Wheeler's 
catalogue,  and  Lindley's  Flora  Medica.    But  Philip  Miller's  "  Gar- 
