Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 323 



sublimate, &c. by the influence of boiling distilled water deprived 

 of air. 1000 parts of boiling distilled water and 60 parts of calomel 

 were kept at 212° for an hour; after cooling, the water was found 

 to contain 0* 1 part of sublimate. 



This experiment repeated with precipitated calomel gave 0*1 part 

 of sublimate. 



When calomel then is boiled in distilled water, sublimate is un- 

 questionably produced without the contact of air, but the quantity 

 produced is infinitely smaller than when oxygen is present ; but in 

 this case it is oxichloride of mercury which is formed, and not mere 

 bichloride of mercury. — Annates de Chimie et de Physique, Juin 1842. 



ON CINCHOVATINA — A NEW VEGETABLE ALKALI. 



M. Manzini obtained this alkali from the Cinchona ovata, which 

 has always been admitted not to possess any febrifuge power. The 

 process employed in preparing this substance was exactly similar to 

 that used for obtaining quina. 



Its properties are, it crystallizes in prisms, which are longer than 

 those of cinchonia ; they are white, inodorous s bitter, but this is long 

 in being developed, on account of the slight solubility of this sub- 

 stance. Alcohol dissolves it very well, especially when hot, but 

 aether is not so perfect a solvent, and in water it is almost insoluble. 

 Dilute acids dissolve it readily and form salts, which usually crystal- 

 lize readily, are very soluble even in weak alcohol, but more so when 

 hot than cold ; these salts are decomposed by the alkalies and their 

 carbonates, which precipitate cinchovatina ; they are also decomposed 

 by tannin, iodide of potassium, bichloride of mercury, chloride of 

 platina, chloride of gold and other metallic chlorides. Ammonia also 

 precipitates the salts of cinchovatina, setting the base at liberty, but 

 only a part of it is separated in an insoluble state, especially if the 

 excess of ammonia is considerable ; a portion of the base remains 

 dissolved by the ammonia, and is deposited in slender crystals by the 

 evaporation of the alkali ; even that portion of the cinchovatina 

 which is precipitated, and which is perfectly amorphous, eventually 

 becomes a crystalline mass of a splendid pearly whiteness ; it re- 

 quires some days for the production of this change. The alcoholic 

 solution of cinchovatina is very bitter ; it restores the blue colour of 

 reddened litmus, and renders syrup of violets green. When subject- 

 ed to a heat gradually increasing to 366° Fahr., cinchovatina suffers 

 no loss of weight, nor any change of appearance ; when heated in a 

 tube to 370° Fahr. it melts into a brownish liquid without volatili- 

 zing ; on cooling it solidifies into a mass of a resinous appearance, of 

 the colour of colophony, with its surface covered with cracks ; in 

 this state its weight is the same as before fusion, and if it be melted 

 again, its fusing point is found not to have changed. Cinchovatina, 

 therefore, cannot be ranged with those bodies, which, as observed 

 by Wohler in his memoir on lithofellic acid, possess the remarkable 

 property, of having two different fusing points, according as they 

 are amorphous or crystallized. 



Cinchovatina which has been fused and cooled is as soluble as 



Y 2 



