OBSERVATIONS ON ASPARAGINE. 65 
trade. In the second rank I will place the other gray co- 
chineals, No. 1, which I have tried, and the zacatillee co- 
chineals. Last come the gray cochineals, No. 2, and the 
zacatillee cochineals, which I think adulterated and in great 
measure exhausted. 
3. A single treatment pretty well exhausts a sample of 
cochineal so as to give a just notion of its tinctorial value 
and of its trade price. 
4. I am induced to think that the richness of the cochi- 
neals depends greatly on the mode of cultivation of this in- 
sect and on the district whence it is derived. 
Chem. Gaz., from Journ. de Pharm. et de Chim. 
ART. XIX. — OBSERVATIONS ON ASPARAGINE. 
BY M. PIRIA. 
Towards the end of last winter, Dr. Menici of Pisa sent 
me a crystallized matter, which he had just extracted from 
the climbing vetch, with the request that I would examine 
and determine the nature of it by analysis. This sample 
did^not seem to be sufficiently pure to be submitted to analy- 
sis ; and the quantity being too small to allow of purifica- 
tion, I undertook to prepare the substance myself, that 
I might be able to submit to a careful investigation. 
I sowed about 10 lbs. of see^d in a closed chamber, the 
floor of which was covered with vegetable mould. The 
germination took place, the light being excluded, and the 
plants soon grew to a considerable height. I then gathered 
them, expressed the juice, and submitted it to evapora- 
tion ; first of all I observed the coagulation of a great quan- 
tity of albumen ; the liquid somewhat evaporated, and left 
6* 
