BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 73 
for lithium when subjected to precisely similar tests with the spectroscope, 
goes to show that the amount of this element contained in the coal-ashes 
is probably relatively large as contrasted with the amounts that have been 
shown by previous observers to occur in the ashes of the generality of 
plants. In seeking to elucidate this point the following-named substances 
were tested with the spectroscope. 
A sample of wood-ashes taken from a soap-boiler’s stock at Southbridge, in 
Central Massachusetts, on being percolated with distilled water as above, 
yielded a residue that gave only the reactions of potassium, sodium, and cal- 
cium. In like manner, the solution obtained by digesting a little of these 
wood-ashes in strong chlorhydric acid gave only the reactions of calcium, 
potassium, and sodium. - 
Ashes from the husks of cotton-seed gave no lithium, but a strong reaction 
for potassium, and a reaction for sodium, both when they were percolated 
with water and when digested with chlorhydric acid. 
The ashes of Manila cheroots, on the contrary, and of ordinary cigars, 
gave very distinct reactions for lithium, as well as for potassium, sodium, and 
calcium. 
The ashes of eel-grass (Zostera marina) from Hingham harbor gave reac- 
tions for potassium, sodium, lithium, and calcium, when moistened with strong 
chlorhydric acid, and so did the ash of black-grass (Juncus Gerardi) from a 
marsh at Hingham. But the ash of the coarser salt-marsh grass (Spartina 
stricta, var. alterniflora) from that locality gave only the reactions of potas- 
sium, sodium, and calcium. 
The ashes of ox-eye daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare) grown upon the field 
from beneath the surface of which the pit-sand of the foregoing experiments 
was taken, gave very distinct reactions for potassium, sodium, lithium, and 
calcium, and a suspicion of rubidium also. 
The ashes of several ten-gramme samples of maize (grain) from different 
localities gave only sodium and potassium reactions, But the ash from 6.7 
grammes of sweet-corn cob from Hingham gave reactions for sodium and po- 
tassium (strong) and a rather weak reaction for lithium. 
The ash of wheat bran gave only sodium and potassium. 
The ashes of common white beans gave a reaction for sodium, and a strong 
reaction for potassium. Both the pods and stalks grown from such beans 
upon the Plain-field of the Bussey Institution gave only the reactions of 
sodium, potassium, and calcium. But the ashes of stalks grown from similar 
beans planted in the coal-ashes of Series A, and watered with rain-water, 
gave lithium and potassium. 
The ashes of bean-stalks grown in coal-ashes that were watered with 
nitrate of ammonium gave a strong lithium reaction and a potassium reaction 
also. When the ashes of these stalks were moistened with strong chlorhy- 
VOL. I. 10 
