BORACIC  ACID  IN  THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  159 
the  silex  and  alkali,  the  organic  matter,  and  the  nitrates  which 
they  hold.  The  spring  waters  poorest  in  nitre  of  those  examined 
contained  from  0-03  to  0-14  milligrams  of  nitre  to  the  litre  ;  the 
richer  ones  from  11  to  14  grams,  in  the  cubic  metre. 
As  to  river-water  ;  the  Yesle  in  Champagne  held  12  grams., 
the  Seine  at  Paris  9  grams,  the  cubic  metre.  These  were  the 
richest.  The  Seine  at  Paris  carries  on  to  the  sea,  in  times  of 
low  water,  58,000  kilograms,  in  times  of  high  water  194,000  kilo- 
grams, of  nitre  every  twenty-four  hours.  What  enormous  amounts 
of  nitre  must  be  carried  into  the  sea  by  the  Mississippi,  the 
Amazon,  and  by  every  great  continental  river  ;  and  how  active, 
beyond  all  ordinary  conception,  must  the  process  of  nitrification 
be  over  all  the  land ;  and  how  vast  the  supply  of  assimilable 
nitrogen  for  the  use  of  the  vegetation  ! — Ann.  Sci.  Naturelles, 
from  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  January  1858. 
PRESENCE  OF  BORACIC  ACID  IN  THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 
By  MM.  Wittstein  and  Apoiger. 
In  analysing  the  ashes  of  a  vermifuge  of  Abyssinia,  the  saoria 
or  seed  of  the  Msesa  picta,  MM.  Wittstein  and  Apoiger  detected 
the  presence  of  small  quantities  of  boracic  acid.  Interesting  as 
this  fact  may  be.  it  does  not  appear  extraordinary,  especially 
since  M.  Malaguti  detected  the  presence  of  small  quantities  of 
silver  in  certain  organic  liquids.  (See  The  Chemist,  February, 
1850),  and  M.  Nickles  has  found  small  quanties  of  fluorine  in 
them.  The  process  followed  by  MM.  Wittstein  and  Apoiger 
was  that  of  M.  H.  Rose,  which  consists,  as  is  known,  in  steeping 
in  the  liquid  supposed  to  contain  boracic  acid,  a  strip  of  turmeric 
paper,  previously  moistened  with  hydrochloric  acid.  By  desic- 
cation this  turmeric  paper  acquires  a  tint  of  fine  red,  however 
little  boracic  acid  may  be  present. 
Moreover  the  presence  of  boracic  acid  in  certain  mineral 
waters  comes  in  support  of  the  assertion  of  Messrs.  Wittstein  and 
Apoiger. 
To  judge  from  what  we  have  remarked  in  our  researches  on 
the  diffusion  of  fluorine,  it  is  to  be  believed  that  boracic  acid  will 
likewise  be  found  in  drinkable  waters,  and  in  the  animal  economy 
—London  Chemist,  Jan.,  1858,  from  Annalen  der  Chemie  und 
Pharmacie. 
