198 Dr. Stenhouse 07i a mcaris vf detecting Kinic Acid. 



appears to baffle our present information on the localities of 

 these deposits. I have been lately thrown into a train of com- 

 munication from which 1 have gained some curious informa- 

 tion, which may, to a certain extent, assist in elucidating the 

 point. It appears that the seal-fishers have for a long series 

 of years been in the constant habit of frequenting this island, 

 Ichaboe, as a convenient spot for the purpose of extracting 

 the oil from the fat of the seals which they may have caught; 

 and this is effected by melting the fat over a wood fire, the 

 fuel for the purpose being collected on the island, the carcases 

 of the seals being thrown aside as useless, and becoming the 

 food of the innumerable sea birds frequenting the district, and 

 thus giving rise to the deposit of the guano on, or in close 

 proximity to, the spot where the ashes of the wood fires and 

 the bodies of the seals had been left ; and hence we may, to 

 a certain extent, argue on the source of the potash and its 

 decomposing the ammoniacal salts existent in the putrefying 

 carcases or the deposit of the birds. It will also account for 

 the frequent occurrence of the skin and bones of the seal as 

 observed in much of the imported guano. 



XXV. On a means of detecting Kinic Acid. 

 By John Stenhouse, P/i.D.^ 

 '"PHOUGH kinic acid does not possess any very striking 

 -■- characters by which it can be easily recognised, its pre- 

 sence may be readily collected by converting it into that very 

 remarkable product of its decomposition, kinone. As there is 

 good reason for believing that kinic acid exists in the state of 

 kinate of lime in all the barks which contain the alkaloids 

 quinine and cinchonine, it may perhaps be of some importance 

 to describe an easy mode of detecting kinic acid, as this may 

 facilitate the discrimination of the true cinchona barks from the 

 spurious ones. 



To examine a bark for kinic acid, it is merely necessary to 

 boil a little of it, say a quarter of an ounce, with a slight ex- 

 cess of lime. The liquor may be poured off and concentrated, 

 as it is not necessary to filter it. It is then to be introduced 

 into a retort and distilled with a mixture of half its weight of 

 sulphuric acid and peroxide of manganese. If the bark con- 

 tains the smallest quantity of kinic acid, the first portion of 

 the liquid which distils over has a yellow colour and the very 

 peculiar smell of kinone. If the liquid is treated with a little 

 ammonia, it immediately becomes of a deep brown colour, 

 which in a few minutes changes to brownish black; or if a 

 little chlorine water is added to a second portion of the liquid, 



* Communicated by the Chemical Society ; having been read December 

 2, 1844. 



