Examination of the Seeds of Phytelephas Macrocarpa and Micro-Carpa

Philosophical Magazine Series 3

ISSN: 1941-5966 (Print) 1941-5974 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tphm14

Examination of the seeds of phytelephas macrocarpa and micro-carpa

M. von Baumhauer

To cite this article: M. von Baumhauer (1844) Examination of the seeds of phytelephas macrocarpa and micro-carpa, Philosophical Magazine Series 3, 25:169, 543-545, DOI: 10.1080/14786444408645060

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786444408645060

Published online: 30 Apr 2009.

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Download by: [University of California Santa Barbara] Date: 16 June 2016, At: 02:24 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 543 cipitated in fine yellow flocculi by hydrochloric acid from the hot solution; this is separated by the filter; the filtered liquid deposits crystals of opianic acid on cooling. This method of separation, however, is not sufficient, for as xanthopenic acid is soluble in hot water, there always remains tome mixed with the opianic acid, which crystallizes and seems to remain combined with it. so that the properties of the latter are so much modified, that M. WShler was inclined to believe at first that the mixture was a new and distinct acid. The opianie acid instead of appearing in small prisms is deposited in small mammillated masses, of a fine uranium yellow colour ; this property is always communicated to it when it contains foreign bodies ; it does not alter even by repeated crystallizations. It was soon found by M. WShler that this substance was opianio acid coloured by xanthopenic acid, but in so small a quantity that the composition of the salts of lead and silver was not altered by it ; it is readily obtained coloufless by employing hypochlorite of soda. M. WShler, on account of the small quantity which he possessed, was able to examine xanthopenic acid but imperfectly. When precipitated by an acid it is in yellow flocculi, which when dried is a yellow powder, presenting a crystalline appearance when examined by the microscope. It is fusible, dissolves in the alkalies with a yellow colour, and treated with a mixture of lime and soda, it yields ammonia. Opiammon dissolves readily in hot caustic ammonia, and when the solution is saturated by hydrochloric acid, eolourless opianic acid only is separated, and it appears that no xanthopenic acid is formed by the action of ammonia. Opiammon, treated with an excess of liquid caustic potash, yields nearly three-fourths of the whole quantity of azote in the state of ammonia, by the influence of the alkali, and is changed into opianic and xanthopenic acid, containing one-fourth of the azote of the opiammon.--//nn, de Ch. et de Phys., October 1844.

F~xamination of the Seeds of Phytelephas macroearpa and micro- earpa. By ~. von BAUMHAUEa. M. Baumhauer has submitted the seeds of the above tree*, which have been for some time brought from Peru into the European market, to a chemical examination. On account of tlzeir hardness and snow- white colour, for which they have been applied in various ways to turning, they have been called vegetable ivory. In the unripe state, Downloaded by [University of California Santa Barbara] at 02:24 16 June 2016 Ruiz and Pavon state that they are eaten by the Peruvians. The juicy stone-fruits are crowded togelher on a common stalk ; they are angular, containing four seeds ; each seed is surrounded with horny albumen. The walls of the cells are composed of a hard rind, which are generally still attached to the fruit as it occurs in commerce. Payen, in his memoir on cellulose, has already analysed the seed- coats of the Phytelephas, after treating them with tether, alcohol, * [Mr. Connell's examination of these seeds will be found at p. 104, col xxiv. ~ED.] 54¢ Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. ammonia, acetic acid and water. He found the compositiou as follows :- Carbon ...... 44'14 Hydrogen ...... 6"30 Oxygen ...... 49"56 He, moreover, found that they were converted into dextrine by sul- phuric acid ; into xyloidine, without the production of any colour, by nitric acid; thus they consisted of pure cellulose, containing traces merely of silica. Baumhauer concludes from his experiments, that the perisperm of the above nuts is not, as Payen supposes, pure cellulose mixed with albumen, two nitrogenous bodies, two fatty matters, silica and salts, but that another substance is still present, which has a somewhat different composition to that of cellulose. He proceeded in his experiments in a similar manner to that of Payen. The seed-coats were separated from the brown rind by a file, then powdered by using a finer file and sifting, and exhausted by ~ether, alcohol and boiling water. The remaining powder, which contained neither nitrogen nor ash, yielded in three analyses-- I. IL III. Carbon ...... 44"28 4.4"44 44"39 Hydrogen ...... 6"35 6"13 6"52 Oxygen ...... 49'40 49"43 49"39 It was now repeatedly boiled with strong acetic acid, washed with hot water and alcohol, dried at a temperature of 5840-302 °, and again analysed. It gave-- Carbon ...... 43"57 Hydrogen ...... 6"27 Oxygen ...... 50"16 The powder obtained in the first experiment yielded to ammonia a brown matter, precipitable by acetate of lead ; the residue, after repeatedly washing with water, acetic acid and alcohol, was of a yellow colour. It was dried at 28¢0-302 °, and burnt with oxide of copper (L). Two other portions were treated for a consi- derable length of tium with dilute solution of soda, and after washing, &e., also analysed (II. III.); they yielded-- I. II. IiI. Carbon ...... ¢3"65 4,5"73 45"59 Hydrogen ...... 6"31 6"3~2 6"57 Oxygen ...... 50"04 57"95 47"84 After partial evaporation, acetic acid threw down brown flocks from Downloaded by [University of California Santa Barbara] at 02:24 16 June 2016 the soda solution. Ammonia and acetate of lead caused a whitish- yellow precipitate in the solution. To separate the two substances, Baumhaner digested the powder of the seed-shells for several days in cold concentrated solution of potash; after dilution with water, the powder was separated by filtra- tion, washed with hot water, and the whole operation repeated as long as the potash dissolved anything. The residue was finally exhausted with hot concentrated acetic acid, alcohol and rather. The ingredient ill solution was separated by saturating the alco- Intelligence a~d Miscellaneous Articles. 545 holic solution with acetic acid, washing with cold water, and treating with hot acetic acid, alcohol and eether. By digestion with cold concentrated solution of potash, no decomposition takes place, inas- much as the residuary powder and the dissolved ingredient are both obtained of a snow-white colour. The powder which remains after treating the seed-coats of Phytelephas, when dried at 302 °, Baum- bauer tbund to possess the following composition :- Carbon ...... 43"63 2¢ 43"71 Hydrogen ...... 6"30 42 6"2¢ Oxygen ...... 50"07 21 50"05 The substance soluble in potash, which the author intends exa- mining more accurately, yields the same composition as starch, from which however, as from inuline, it differs in properties. By decom- posing tile salt of lead with sulphuretted hydrogen, evaporation, and washing the residue with the solvents mentioned above, it is obtained in a state of purity.--Ann, der Chem. und Pharm. xlviii, p..356.

ON LIMONE. BY DR. C. SCHMIDTo This substance, which was discovered by Bernays in the pips of lemons aud oranges, is probably contained in the seed of all the Aurantiacew. From the author's investigation it appears that it is not a base, and does not contain any nitrogen. It is obtained in the form of a white crystalline powder; its crystals belong to the rhombic system. This substance is very sparingly soluble in water, rather and ammonia, somewhat more in mineral acids, more easily in alcohol and acetic acid, but most readily in potash, from which solution it is precipitated unaltered by acids. Concentrated s ulphuric acid dissolves it with a blood-red colour, from which water precipitates it, as well as from the alcoholic and acetic solutions, un- changed; it is carbonized by heat. When neutralized with car- bonate of barytes, no barytes remains in the solution. It crystallizes readily from acetic acid ; the crystals are free from chemically- combined acetic acid. The alcoholic solution has a neutral reac- tion ; it neither affords precipitates with chlm-ide of platinum nor with perchloride of mercury, with salts of lead nor with those of silver, potash, barytes and others (the latter must naturally be dissolved in alcohol, as otherwise the pure substance is precipitated by the water of the saline solution). It can be heated to 302 ° without undergoing change and without any remarkable loss in weight ; at a higher temperetture it suddenly becomes yellowish, and melts at

Downloaded by [University of California Santa Barbara] at 02:24 16 June 2016 471 ° to a liquid of the same colour, which resembles a melting resin ; it resolidifies to an amorphous mass, and even after several days does not present any trace of crystalline structure ; it may however be dissolved in acetic acid by long digestion in the warmth, from which it crystallizes in the form and with the properties of the original unmelted substance. Tile indifference of this substance towards oxidizing agents is remarkable ; concentrated nitric acid dissolves it, especially with the assistance of a little heat; the solution is of a pale yellow, and even after long heating it is precipitated by water from the solution in