460 
ON  CYCLOPIC  ACID. 
temperature  of  its  native  country,  this  oil  is  fluid,  but  in  Europe 
it  has  the  consistency  of  butter ;  its  color  is  yellowish  orange, 
and  its  smell  is  very  much  like  that  of  violet  flowers ;  it  is  insol- 
uble in  cold  as  well  as  boiling  water,  slightly  soluble  in  alcohol, 
and  very  soluble  in  ether.  The  author  gives,  in  a  tabulated  form, 
the  results  of  the  action  of  diff'erent  reagents  upon  the  oil  alluded 
to,  and  some  of  the  commercial  varieties  thereof,  as  imported 
from  other  countries  where  the  oil  is  obtained  either  from  the 
same  or  some  other  kind  of  palm-tree.  The  action  of  the  re- 
agents alluded  to  (sulphuric  and  nitric  acids,  ammonia,  chloride 
of  zinc,  protochloride  of  tin,  pernitrate  of  mercury,  and  liver  of 
sulphur)  is  not  sufficiently  characteristic  to  be  specifically  quoted 
here ;  and  this  is  the  less  necessary  because,  as  the  author  also 
states,  adulteration  of  these  oils  would  not  be  practised  in  the 
country  whence  they  are  exported,  and  certainly  not  in  Europe, 
unless  it  were  done  in  a  very  wholesale  manner,  and  with  the  ap- 
plication of  very  inferior  fats.  The  complete  solubilit}''  in  ether 
is  a  sufficient  test  of  purity ;  the  coloring  matter  is  readily  destroyed 
when  desired. — Clmn.  News^  June  24,  1870,  from  Mon.  Sci. 
ON  CYCLOPIC  ACID,  A  NEW  FLUORESCENT  SUBSTANCE 
EXTRi^CTED  FROM  THE  CYCLOPIA  VOGELIL* 
By  Arthur  H.  Church,  M.  A.  Oxon,  F.  C.  S. 
One  of  the  plants  used  by  the  African  Boers,  for  tea,  is  the 
Cyclopia  Vogelii.  Endeavoring  to  extract  theine  from  the  dried 
leaves  and  flowers  of  this  plant,  I  met  with  a  substance  appa- 
rently new  to  science,  and  possessing  one  remarkable  property, 
that  of  a  high  degree  of  fluorescence.  This  character  is  best 
seen  when  a  crystal  or  two  of  the  new  body  is  dropped  into  a 
solution  of  caustic  soda  and  viewed  in  sunlight.  An  intense 
greenish  yellow  fluorescence  is  perceived  at  first,  but  disappears 
in  the  course  of  some  hours. 
I  have  named  the  new  substance  cyclopic  acid.  It  is  extracted 
by  enclosing  a  pound  or  so  of  the  dried  leaves  in  a  cloth,  and 
immersing  this  for  some  days  in  water  at  about  30° — 40°  C., 
occasionally  squeezing  the  cloth.    A  yellow  powder  gradually 
*  Communicated  by  the  Author,  From  the  Report  of  the  Chemical 
Department,  Royal  Agricultural  College,  Cirencester. 
