Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  i 
Nov.,  1876.  J 
Sium  Latifolium. 
483 
ether  was  treated  with  successive  portions  of  alcohol  until  but  a  few 
grains  were  left ;  this,  containing  a  number  of  minute  crystals,  and 
having  a  very  sweet  taste,  was  dissolved  in  water.  The  application  of 
Trommer's  test  proved  the  presence  of  sugar.  A  drop  of  the  aque- 
ous solution,  placed  on  a  microscope  slide,  and  evaporated,  plainly 
revealed  the  presence  of  cane  sugar. 
As  the  best  authorities  agree  in  placing  the  amount  of  fixed  oil 
obtained  from  the  kernels  of  the  seeds  at  less  than  50  per  cent.,  it 
would  seem  that,  as  more  than  1 1  per  cent,  is  obtainable  from  the 
marc  as  rejected  by  the  manufacturer  by  treatment  with  bisulphide  of 
carbon,  the  latter  oil  could  be  produced  at  a  less  cost  than  an  inferior 
quality  of  the  expressed  article,  and  answer  the  same  purpose  for  use 
in  the  arts. 
The  writer  intends  making  further  experiments  to  determine  the 
amount  of  butyric  acid  obtainable  from  the  marc,  by  a  process  similar 
to  the  one  above  described. 
SIUM  LATIFOLIUM, 
[Water  Parsnip,  nat.  order  Umbellifera,  Gray.) 
BY  NATHAN  ROGERS,  PH.G. 
{Abstract  from  an  Inaugural  Essay  presented  to  the  California  College  of  Pharmacy.) 
Attention  having  been  recently  directed  to  this  plant  (see  "Amer. 
Jour.  Phar.,"  1873,  p.  371),  the  writer  concluded  from  its  stated 
marked  poisonous  properties  to  subject  the  plant  to  a  chemical  exami- 
nation. 
The  water  parsnip  is  an  aquatic  plant  very  common  in  the  swamps 
and  along  the  water  courses  of  the  valleys  of  the  Pacific  slope.  Its 
root  is  creeping,1  stem  erect,  angular,  leaves  pinnate,  leaflets  ovate, 
lanceolate,  sessile  smooth,  serrate,  sometimes  pinnatifid  \  flowers  white, 
large  rayed,  involucres  many-leaved,  umbels  terminal.  The  leaves. of 
the  plant,  when  found  growing  in  water,  are  generally  bi-pinnatifid.  In 
appearance,  growth,  odor  and  taste  it  is  closely  allied  to  its  innocent 
congener,  the  Pastinaca  sativa.  On  account  of  this  resemblance,  it 
has  frequently  been  productive  of  dangerous  results,  when  eaten  through 
mistake  for  the  harmless  and  nutritious  tuber  of  that  edible  species. 
1  This  statement  does  not  agree  with  the  brief  description  given  by  Mr.  A.  R. 
Porter  on  page  349  of  this  volume.  The  root  examined  by  the  latter  had  been  sent 
by  Dr.  C.  B.  White,  U.  S.  A.,  to  Mr.  F.  B.  Power.— Editor. 
