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GLEANINGS  PROM  THE  FRENCH  JOURNALS. 
mixed  with  orange  flower  water,  than  which  it  is  much  less  odor- 
ant  or  agreeable.  He  proposes  the  following  chemical  means  of 
distinguishing  between  these  two  waters.  Twenty  parts  of  nitric 
acid,  10  of  sulphuric  acid,  and  thirty  of  water  are  mixed.  The 
assay  is  made  by  mixing  one  part  of  this  test  acid  solution  with 
fi  ve  parts  of  the  distilled  water  of  orange  flowers,  when  a  rose 
color  of  greater  or  less  depth,  according  to  the  strength  of  the 
water,  occurs.  With  the  water  of  the  leaves  no  such  coloration 
occurs.  Unfortunately  this  test  is  only  useful  in  distinguishing 
the  separate  waters,  as  it  will  not  detect  the  presence  of  the  leaf 
water  even  negatively,  as  flower  orange  flower  water  is  made  of 
several  commercial  strengths.  It  is  also  the  opinion  of  M.  Rabot, 
that  age  deprives  this  water  of  the  property  of  being  colored  by 
the  acid  mixture.  [We  have  tried  this  test  with  orange  flower 
water,  imported  in  flasks,  and  find  it  to  react  perfectly ;  but  water 
made  from  oil  of  neroli  did  not  react,  so  that  this  test  will 
distinguish  the  distilled  orange  flower  water  from  that  made  from 
oil  of  neroli. — Ed.  Am.  Jour.  Pharm.] 
Sericographis  Mohitli  and  its  coloring  matter. — M.  Thomas, 
Pharmacien  attached  to  the  French  Expedition  to  Mexico,  found 
in  the  valley  of  Orizaba,  a  plant  called  Mohitli  by  the  Indians, 
much  used  by  them  in  dysentery.    They  macerate  the  fresh 
leaves  of  this  plant  in  water  during  several  hours,  which  pro- 
duces a  beautiful  violet  blue-colored  infusion,  which  is  taken  as  a 
medicine  the  next  day,  fasting.    The  plant  belongs  to  the  natu- 
ral order  Acanthacese,  and  described  by  Nees  Von  Esanbeck 
under  the  name  Sericographis  Mohitili.    The  natives  call  ityerba 
azul  (blue  herb.)    The  aqueous  extract  of  the  plant  has  a  deep 
blue  color,  is  very  hygroscopic  and  in  great  part  re-dissolves  in 
water.    The  solution  again  filtered  and  evaporated  affords  the 
coloring  matter  in  a  purer  state,  deep  blue,  amorphous  and  inodor- 
ous.   Its  solution  acts  with  acids  and  alkalies  like  litmus.  If 
the  herb  is  acted  on  by  water  in  a  close  vessel  out  of  contact  with 
air,  the  blue  color  is  not  developed,  but  the  infusion,  by  simple 
agitation  with  air  in  a  bottle  partly  filled,  takes  the  blue  tint. 
Protochloride  of  tin  decolorizes  the  liquid  and  causes  a  deep  green 
precipitate.     The  author  calls  the  colorless  natural  principle 
mohitleine,  the  green  color  produced  by  the  action  of  air  on  this 
