74 
ON  OXYGEN  IN  A  NASCENT  STATE. 
ment  to  the  country — approach  more  or  less  in  their  medicinal 
effect  to  the  South  African  Bucco-bushes. 
Baeckea  utilis,  F.  Mull.,  from  Mount  Aberdeen,  might  serve 
travellers  in  those  desolate  localities  as  tea,  for  the  volatile  oil 
of  its  leaves  resembles  greatly  in  taste  and  odor  that  of  lemons, 
not  without  a  pleasant,  peculiar  aroma.  Trigonella  suavissima, 
Lindl.,  proved  valuable  as  an  antiscorbutic  spinach  in  Sir  Thomas 
Mitchell's  expedition  ;  and  the  Tetragonella  implexicoma,  Miquel, 
the  various  Car  diamines,  Nasturtium  terrestre,  R.  Br.,  or  Law- 
rencia  spicata,  Hook.,  may  likewise  be  used  for  the  same  purpose. 
The  root  of  Scorzonera  Lawrencii,  Hook.,  a  favorite  food  of  the 
natives,  would  form,  if  enlarged  by  culture,  an  agreeable  substi- 
tute for  Scorzonera  Hispaniea,  or  asparagus ;  and  Anisotome 
gJaeialis,  F.  Mull.,  a  large-rooted  umbelliferous  plant  from  the 
snowy  top  of  Mount  Buller,  will  be  added  hereafter,  perhaps,  to 
the  culinary  vegetables  of  the  colder  climates.  Seeds  of  the 
latter  plants,  amongst  many  others,  have  been  procured  for  the 
Botanic  Gardens.  Santalum  lanceolatum,  R.  Br.,  Mesembryan- 
theum  wquilaterale,  Haw.,  Leptomeria  pungens,  F.  Mull.,  and 
L.  acerba,  F.  Mull.,  deserve  notice  for  their  agreeable  fruit. — 
Pharm.  Journ.,  Sept.  1855. 
RESEARCHES  ON  OXYGEN  IN  A  NASCENT  STATE. 
By  M.  Auguste  Houzeau. 
In  i  onsidering  one  of  the  more  remarkable  cases  in  which 
oxygen  assumes  a  nascent  state,  namely  that  which  occurs  in 
the  preparation  of  oxygenated  water,  I  have  been  led  to  sup- 
pose that  if  by  a  happy  doubling  of  the  two  atoms  of  oxygen, 
which  are  united  to  barium  to  form  the  binoxide,  I  succeeded  in 
setting  free  the  extra  atom  out  of  contact  with  any  oxidizable 
substance,  the  molecule  would  in  its  disengagement  show  itself 
to  possess  in  a  high  degree,  oxydizing  properties.  It  is  this,  in 
fact,  which  occurs  when  monohydrated  sulphuric  acid  is  allowed 
to  react  at  a  low  temperature  upon  binoxide  of  barium.  Of  the 
various  apparatus  which  I  have  employed  in  the  laboratory  of 
M.  Boussingault  for  the  preparation  of  nascent  oxygen,  the 
most  simple  consists  of  a  tubulated  globe,  the  narrower  neck  of 
which  is  fitted  with  a  conducting-tube  passing  under  a  bell-glass 
