Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
July,  1876.  j 
Agave  Americana. 
301 
it  yielded  a  clear  solution,  gave  a  white  precipitate  with  sulphhydrate  of 
ammonium.  The  precipitate  was  zinc,  and  the  filtrate,  when  evap- 
orated and  ignited,  left  no  solid  residue.  Carbonic  acid  was  the  only 
acid  found  in  the  powder,  which  had  been  colored  with  J  grain  of 
carmine.    The  liquid  was  flavored  with  lavender  and  bergamot. 
One  bottle  of  Laird's  Bloom  of  Youth  was  found  to  contain  2J 
fluidounces  of  liquid  and  212  grains  of  insoluble  powder.  Tested  in. 
the  usual  manner,  the  liquid  responded  to  the  tests  for  small  quantities 
of  iron  and  calcium,  and  on  evaporation  left  half  a  fluiddrachm  of 
glycerin.  The  powder  was  dissolved  in  hydrochloric  acid,  efferves- 
cence being  produced,  and  the  solution  treated  with  sulphuretted 
hydrogen,  which  produced  a  black  precipitate,  due  to  bismuth.  The 
filtrate  treated  with  ammonia  and  sulphhydrate  of  ammonium,  gave  a 
white  precipitate,  due  to  zinc,  and  the  filtrate  from  it  yielded,  with  am- 
monium carbonate,  a  white  precipitate,  due  to  calcium. 
Besides  carbonic  acid,  the  presence  of  hydrochloric  acid  was  proven 
in  the  nitric  acid  solution  by  silver  nitrate. 
A  quantitative  estimation  of  the  insoluble  portion  yielded — 
31*204  grains  of       .       .       .       .        oxychloride  of  bismuth, 
149*792     «     «  carbonate  of  zinc, 
50*004     "    u        ....        carbonate  of  calcium. 
Total  211*000  grains  $  actual  weight,  212  grains. 
The  powder  was  colored  with  \  grain  of  carmine,  and  the  liquid  was 
perfumed  with  lemon  and  bergamot. 
AGAVE  AMERICANA  LIN.  AND  ITS  USES. 
BY  FRANCIS  MARION   MURRAY,  PH.G. 
[Abstract  from  an  Inaugural  Essay.) 
To  the  curious  and  interesting  plants  of  the  genus  Agave,  the  name 
Century  plant  was  given  from  the  gardener's  fable  of  its  requiring  one 
hundred  years  for  them  to  produce  their  flowers.  That  they  flower 
but  once  in  a  century  is  true,  since  they  propagate  their  species  by 
flowering  but  once,  when  they  wither  and  die. 
Being  indigenous  to  tropical  America,  and  from  the  fact  that  they 
were  for  many  years  confounded  with  the  genus  Aloe,  the  plants  of 
which,  when  young,  may  be  mistaken  for  them,  they  have  received  the 
general  appellation  —American  Aloe. 
