1 6  So-called  BucJi arian  Rlmharh,       \  ^""jlTi  mf^' 
just  sufficient  to  give  it  a  decided  alkaline  reaction.  After  an  hour's 
rest  filter  again,  and  treat  the  liquid  by  a  solution  of  carbonate  of 
soda.    Collect  and  wash  the  precipitate  in  the  usual  manner. 
This  process  of  refining  is  founded  on  a  fact  I  have  observed,  that 
when  a  solution  of  oxalic  acid  is  added  to  a  liquid  containing  salts  of 
lime  and  baryta,  both,  all  the  lime  is  precipitated  first  and  immedi- 
ately, while  baryta  is  only  affected  after  some  time.  The  lime  being 
thus  eliminated,  caustic  soda  precipitates  all  the  foreign  bodies  likely 
to  be  present,  such  as  iron,  alumina,  copper,  lead,  etc. 
It  may  be  objected  that  this  process  does  not  free  baryta  from 
strontia.  To  this  I  will  answer  that,  1st,  strontia  is  seldom  if  ever 
found  in  witherite ;  2d,  the  old  process  is  no  better,  as  sulphate  of 
strontia  is  almost  as  insoluble  as  sulphate  of  baryta.  If,  however,  a 
chemically  pure  carbonate  of  baryta  is  desired,  it  may  be  obtained  by 
a  slight  modification  of  the  modus  operandi.  It  is  only  necessary  to 
use  pure  chemicals,  and  purify  by  repeated  crystallizations  the  chloride 
of  barium  previous  to  the  addition  of  the  carbonate  of  sodu. 
ON  THE  SO-CALLED  BUCHARIAN  RHUBARB. 
By  a.  Fero,  of  Moscow, 
In  my  thesis  on  the  kinds  of  rhubarb  at  present  in  Russian  Com- 
merce*, I  have  described  a  so-called  Bucharian  Rhubarb,  which  was 
frequently  met  with  in  Russia  during  the  years  1864  and  1865.  I 
was  at  that  time  unable  to  discover  the  route  by  which  it  had  entered 
Russia ;  but  the  fact  was  that  it  was  in  considerable  quantity  at  the 
fair  of  Nishni-Nowgorad,  also  in  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow,  and 
was  likewise  often  sold  in  the  southwestern  provinces  of  Russia.  Prof. 
Dragendorff  has  investigated  its  history  and  furnished  me  with  con- 
clusive evidence  that  it  did  not  come  from  Bucharia,  but  was  imported 
from  the  west  into  Russia.  The  law  forbidding  the  entry  into  Russia 
of  all  except  the  crown  rhubarb,  being  then  still  in  force,  the  name 
had  evidently  been  selected  to  cover  up  its  true  origin.  Even  in  Grer- 
many  attempts  were  made  in  1866  to  introduce  this  rhubarb  under  the 
false  and  nonsensical  name  of  Japanese  rhubarb,  and  in  1868  it  was 
there  sold  as  flat  English  rhubarb.  This  latter  name  it  ought  to  re- 
tain in  future,  since  it  was  imported  from  England  and  most  likely 
cultivated  there. — Pharm.  Zeitschr.f.  Bussl,  1870,  Sept.  511. 
J.  M.  M. 
*  See  Amer.  Journ.  Ph.  1867,  212. 
