Feb. I, 1887.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



50, 



SOME OF THE DRUG EXHIBITS AT THE 

 COLONIAL AND INDIAN EXHIBITION* 



BY E. M. HOLMES, F. L. S., 



Curator of the Miiseum of the Pharmaccuticul Societt/. 

 la the first place the "quality of the prodwcts ex- 

 hibited indicated that the requiiriuents of the London 

 drug market are not well understood in the colonies. 

 I say advisedly the London drug market, because it 

 is generally acknowledged that London is the prin- 

 cipal market for drugs in the world. In the majority 

 of cases drugs had been evidently collected with the 

 least possible trouble and apparently in ignorance of 

 the fact that the price realised will depend in great 

 measure on the care bestowed in preparation for the 

 market. Thus the bitter orange peel exhibited in the 

 West Indian Court possessed neither the form nor 

 colour required in the drug trade. Cinnamon was 

 also shown from several colonies, which would not 

 compare in flavour or appearance with that from 

 Oeylon, with which it must compete if it is grown 

 for the drug or spice market. Beeswax affords 

 another instance in point. Although it is easily clari- 

 fied there was hardly a clean specimen of good colour 

 to be seen in the Exhibition. 



In the second place, it was noticeable that the best 

 and most important of the drugs exhibited were those 

 prepared either by colonists who combined pharma- 

 ceutical and chemical knowledge with operative skill, 

 or by analytical chemists in the employ of the Colonial 

 Governments. I may instance the excellent samples 

 of essential oils and various pharmaceutical products 

 manufactured by Mr. Bosisto, of Victoria, and Mr. 

 Sharp, of the Seychelles, both of whom are members 

 of this Society, the very interesting preparations 

 sent by Dr. Bancroft, of Queensland ; and the fine 

 series of pharmaceutical products of essential oils 

 from Mr. Staiger, of the same colony, from Mr. 

 McCarthy, of Trinidad, Mr. J. J. Bowrey, of Jamaica, 

 and Mr. F. Bert, of Barbadoes, all of whom are 

 analytical chemists. 



In' the third place, an ignorance of the physical 

 appearance by which drugs are distinguished was evi- 

 dent from the fact that several drugs were exhibited 

 under erroneous names. Thin the ipecacuanha shown 

 in the West Indian Court was not the true drug', 

 but that of Asclepias curassavict, which is locally 

 used under that name. The sarsaparilla exhibited in 

 several of the West Indian Courts was the root of 

 Bromelia Karatas, although the true drug was shown 

 in the Honduras and Barbadoes Court. This want 

 of accurate knowledge in the colonies has probably 

 often to be deplored by the drug merchants and 

 brokers in this country, to whom such drugs are 

 consigned for sale. 



In the fourth place it seems remarkable that a 

 large number of colonial products which could be 

 obtained in almost unlimited quantity, are practically 

 unknown in commerce in this country. Thus the 

 oil of the purging nut, and even the seed itself. do»s 

 not appear to be known here, although about 300,000 

 bushels of the seed are annually sent from the Cape 

 de Verde Islands to Portugal for the expression of 

 the oil. Crab-nut oil, which thirty-five years ago 

 was awarded a prize medal at the International Ex- 

 hibition, and which could be procured in almost un- 

 limited quantity from both British Guiana and West 

 Africa, is not yet an imported article of trade in 

 this country, and many other instances could be 

 adduced. These facts suggest the importance to the 

 colonies of employing thoroughly competent chemists, 

 possessing not merely a knowledge of applied chemis- 

 try, but a familiarity with the appearance and 

 character of ordinary commercial products, whose busi- 

 ness it should be to investigate and report on the 

 native productions in such papers or publications 

 as come under the cognizance of cammcrcial men. 

 The lack of knowledge in the colonies of the re- 

 quirements of the home markets and the absence of 

 information in this country concerning valuable colonial 



* Kead at an Evening Meeting of the Pharmaceutical 

 Society, Wednesday, November, ITth, 1386. 



products indicate the necessity for a central building 

 in London and other large commercial towns where 

 samples of colonial products sufficiently large for ex- 

 amination and experiment could be obtained, together 

 with all published information concerning them. Such 

 an institution, containing series of samples from different 

 colonies, would prove doubly instructive : in the first 

 place by showing whence the finei^t (jualities of any pro- 

 duct could be most easily and cheaply obtained ; and, 

 secondly, as an educational department in commercial 

 knowledge for intending emigrants to the colonies, 



I will now pass on to notice some of the drugs ex- 

 hibited at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition. For 

 our present purpose these may be grouped under the 

 following heads : — Mediciuial drugs, medicinal species, 

 essential oils aud camphor, fixed oils and fats , gums, 

 resins, and saccharine substances. 



Of the official medicinal drugs, i.e., those recognized 

 in the British Pharmacopoeia, the following possessed 

 of tonic or febrifuge properties were shown, viz, cin- 

 chona, nux vomica, quassia, hops, bitter orange peel, 

 chirata, cascarilla, and b^beeru. 



Tne most important exhibits of cinchona bark oc- 

 curred in the India, Ceylon, and Jamica Courts; the 

 principal barks shown being those of C. Ledgeriana, 

 C. rohusta, C. officinalis, C. Calisat/a, and C. succinibra. 

 The last-named was also exhibited from the Mauritus, 

 Perak and Fiji. 



By far the larger proportion of cinchona bark is pur- 

 chased for the manufacture of quinine, and as each 

 bale is usually analysed before being sold the appear- 

 ance of the bark is to the quinine manufacturer but 

 of little consequence. To the pharamacist, however, 

 it is of importance to be able to distinguish between 

 the difftrent varieties by their physical appearance, 

 since one variety of bark is sometimes prescribed in 

 preference to another. Lately a great quantity of 

 cinchona bark in the form of shavings has been sent 

 to this country, which it would be almost impossible 

 to refer to any particular species. Fine bold quills for 

 druggists' purposes often fetch a higher price in the 

 market than they are intrinsically worth, i. e., judged 

 by the percentage of crystalline sulphate of quinine 

 they afford. In view of this fact, and of the low 

 price at present paid for cinchona bark, a careful 

 selection of well-marked varieties might prove as 

 advantageous to the planter as it would be welcome 

 to the pharmacist. The barks most suitable for this 

 purpose are the Calisaya bark from Madras, which 

 presents the same characteristic appearance as the 

 cultivated Boliviin bark, viz, a predominance of lougi- 

 tudinal fissures, with comparatively few nearly circular 

 transverse cracks ; the variety of C. ojicinalis, known 

 as C. crifpa, which yields a peculiarly corky bark of 

 good quality, and which is thus easily recognized from 

 other varieties ; aud the red bark of India and 

 Ceylon, having a peculiar warty appearaucf. But on 

 the other hand the hybrids between C. officinahs a.nd 

 C. succinilra cultivated in Ceylon and elsewhere, and 

 the variety of red bark chiefly grown in Jamaica, are 

 by no means easily recogoized. Eeuewed bark and 

 shavings are still more difficdt to assign to their res- 

 pective species. These are therefore less suitable for 

 the use of the pharmacist. 



Nux vomica seeds were shown from Trinidad and 

 Ceylon. It may be interesting to exporters of these 

 seeds to direct attention to the fact lately demon- 

 strated by Messrs. Dunstan and Short (Fharm. Journ., 

 [3], XV., p. G), that the seeds grown in Ceylon are 

 much richer in strychnine than those either of Bom- 

 bay, Madras or Cochin China, and that as the principal 

 use of these seeds is for the preparation of strych- 

 nine the Oeylon variety would best repay cultiva- 

 tion. 



The spncimens of quassia exhibited in the Tobago 

 and British Guiana Courts were derived from Qitas.iiti 

 amara, and not from the oflBcial tree, Picnvna excdsa. 

 The hops exhibited in the Canadian Court were 

 of very good colour and aroma, and the specimen in 

 the New Zealand Court was of fairly good quality. 

 Bitter orange peel, which was exhibited by several 

 colonies, was badly dried, and consisted of quarter 

 sections, instead o£ carefully dried strips of good 



