606 
Fm^ fur  aldehyde  Color  Reaction. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Oct..  1888. 
Benzoin  also,  the  source  of  the  benzoin  of  commerce,  the  resin  is  not 
formed  in  schizogenous,  but  in  lysigenous  canals.  The  formation 
originates  in  the  medullary  rays,  advancing  from  there  to  the  surround- 
ing phloem-parenchyma,  and  finally  to  the  bast-cells  and  sclereides. 
The  same  is,  in  general  terms,  the  history  of  the  formation  of  the 
resin  in  Abies  and  Thuja.  But  in  the  various  kinds  of  myrrh,  derived 
from  species  of  Balsamodendron  and  Boswellia,  the  gum-resin  is  always 
formed  in  schizogenous  receptacles  or  in  true  cells.  In  Laurus  Cam- 
phora  also,  in  the  formation  of  camphor  oil,  actual  absorption  of  the 
cell- walls  could  not  be  detected.  In  young  branches  it  is  contained 
in  thin-walled  cells  situated  in  the  wood  near  to  the  medullary  rays. 
The  large  fissures  in  old  wood  filled  with  camphor  are  probably  of 
lysigenous  origin,  like  those  of  the  wood  of  Andira,  which  contain 
araroba,''  and  those  which  contain  catechu  in  Acacia  Catechu. — Phar. 
Jour,  and  Trans.,  August  11,  page  108. 
THE  FURFUEALDEHYDE  COLOR  REACTION.^ 
By  L.  v.  TJdeanszky. 
Mylius  (1887)  has  shown  that  the  red  color  produced  by  heating 
the  bile  acids,  sugar,  and  sulphuric  acid  together,  is  due  to  the  forma- 
tion of  furfuraldehyde  from  the  two  last-named  reagents.  He  also 
showed  that  although  of  the  substances  he  examined,  the  bile  acids 
gave  the  test  in  the  most  marked  manner,  yet  that  there  exist  numer- 
ous organic  substances  that  also  give  a  similar  reaction. 
The  present  research  is  chiefly  an  expansion  of  Mylius'  work.  A 
very  large  number  of  organic  substances  were  examined  in  the  follow- 
ing way.  A  minute  particle  of  the  substance  under  investigation,  or 
a  drop  of  the  substance  if  liquid,  was  placed  in  a  test-tube  with  1  cc. 
of  water  or  alcohol,  and  then  a  drop  of  solution  of  furfuraldehyde ; 
concentrated  sulphuric  acid  was  added  carefully,  and  the  result 
watched.  The  temperature  of  the  mixture  was  not  allowed  to  rise 
over  50°.  As  solutions  of  furfuraldehyde  of  a  strength  greater  than 
2*2  per  cent,  themselves  give  a  coloration  with  sulphuric  acid  (showing 
an  absorption-band  spectroscopically  at  D),  a  solution  of  the  strength 
0*5  per  cent,  was  used  in  all  cases,  which  is  a  strength  considerably 
greater  than  Mylius  found  necessary  in  the  case  of  the  bile  acids» 
^  Zeit.  physiol.  Chem.,  xii.,  355 — 376  and  377 — 395.  Reprinted  from  Jour. 
Chem.  Soc,  Aug.,  1888. 
