April 2, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



819 



FIBRE MACHINES. 



Mr. H. C. Smith's new fibre machine is thus 

 noticed in a letter from our old friend, Mr. Thomas 

 Clark, of Messrs. Clark, Speuce k Co., Cxalle, who, it 

 will be seen, are agents for the patentee. The speci- 

 men of aloe fibre is very fine, bat Mr. Clark seems 

 not to be aware how largely we h.ive discussed the 

 subject of fibres and fibre machines. Aloes and pine- 

 apple plants will yield excellent fibre, especially the 

 latter, but we have not the same confidence as regards 

 the comparatively weak leaves of the screw piue. 



17, Philpot Lane, London, 26th January, 18S3. 



By w.ay of renewing our very old acquaintance I 

 am anxious to draw your attention to an improved 

 scutching michine, which has recently been patented 

 by Mr. H. C. Smith of Mauritius (now iu England) for 

 the production of aloe and other fibres. 



I have noticed allusion in recent numbers of the 

 Oliiernr to the important increase iu exports from 

 Mauritius and Reunion islands of the afoe, and that 

 several joint-stock Companies have sprung up of late 

 years. I see no reason why thia euterprize should 

 not be extended to Ceylon. The plant grows almost 

 throughout the island, and in the north I believe the 

 coconut estates are fenced in with it. 



Mr. Smith's now patent is applicable not only to 

 the aloe leaf, but to tho edible pineapple and tvikt pine, 

 and perhaps I m ly include the plantain. 



The patent is very simple, and one machine is capable 

 of producing 600 lb. of clean fibre per day of 10 hours, 

 and the present value on the average is about ,£3(3 per 

 ton. I have sold two bales of superior at i.'4'2 per 

 ton ! Surely it is worth the serious attention of all 

 who may have the raw material in the vicinity of 

 their houses. 



The coat of the machine is bo trifling. It becomes 

 within the reach of almost all ; and you would, I am 

 sure, be doing a public good by a favoraljie atten- 

 tion to the above remarks. Messrs. Clark, Spenee & Co, 

 of Galle are agents for the patentee. — Wishing you con- 

 tinued health and prosperity, believe me, yours 

 faithfully. THOMAS CLARK. 



As regards the Ekman process we li'ire heard from a 

 Colombo house that had made the needful enquiries, 

 that the cost of the plant for this process is not less 

 than i,'2,000! We see that some of the Mauritius 

 "hemp" Companies estimate their produce all round 

 at £3'S a ton, but that they expect to work up to a 

 fibre worth £40 a ton. 



THE ADULTERATION OF QUININE. 

 Our London correspondent has recently referred to 

 this topic, and we have received from an old Ceylon 

 colonist, settled in Paris, a copy of the Temps of 

 Feb. oth, which contains an article on the subject. 

 After giving a short sketch of the history of the fever 

 bark, the writer refeia to the alkaloids quinine and 

 cinchouine, the action of the latter being, he says, 

 uncertain. He then relates the experiments made by 

 Doctor Liborde, the results of which are given in 

 the complex remlin of the Society of Biology of Paris. 

 His first communication on the subject goes back to 

 4th Dec. last, and in it he recalls the fact that in 

 1877 he undertook experiments to determine the 

 physiological action of quinine, cinchouine and cin- 

 choaidine, the toxical convulsing properties of ihe 

 latter two being such that the effects were designated 

 by him "oinchonic epilepsy." It was the recent epi- 

 demic of typhoid fever that attracted Dr. Laborde's 



attention to qninine, as he felt the necessity of de- 

 termining the effects of a remedy so generally need. 

 It was then that he first declared the quinine in 

 use iu the hospitals to be adulterated. At a meeting 

 of the Society on Oth Dec, he reiterated and ampli- 

 fied his assertion, stating that the exact proportion 

 of cinchouine in the quinine of the hospitals, determ- 

 ined by qualitative and quantitative analyses, was 

 43 per cent— almost half. He exhibited a specimen of 

 the adulteriit'd product, which had not the crystalline 

 silky appearance of pure quinine but a dull cottony 

 look. He also related experiments which lie had per- 

 formed with the substance on guinea-pigs, which 

 proved the adulteration. At the sitting of l(ith Dec. 

 he again referred to the subject, and spoke of the 

 necessity of an enquiry into the adulteration of ihe 

 quinine supplied to the hospital's. Dr. Laborde's com- 

 nuiuicatiou was reported to M. Baudrimout, the 

 Director of the Central Pharmacy of the hospitals, 

 who at first declared the adulteration to be i'upossible, 

 as the quinine had passed through the hiinds of ex- 

 perts. However, he at once proceeded to test the 

 statement of Dr. Labonle, which he found to be true, 

 with this peculiarity, that in a certain eetabli^hment 

 the quinine was pure, in another it was mixed with 

 cinchouine in the proportions indicated by Dr. Laborde, 

 while at another the bottles contained nothing but 

 oinchonine. The Administration of Public A.ssistance, 

 informed of the matter by M. Baudrimout, called upon 

 the contractor, named Pressac, for an explanation ; 

 the latter replied that it was not he but M. Lacombe, 

 the representative of the Lombard Manufactory 

 of Chemicil Products, who h.td supplied the drug. 

 But the Public Assistance would not deal with 

 the latter, Pressac having contracted to supply 

 70 kilos of sulphate of quinine at .370 fr. the kilo. 

 They simply informed Pressac that they should 

 lodge a complaint against him before the Public 

 Prosecutor. Pressac hastened to Lacombe, who ac- 

 companied him to the Central Pharmacy, where he 

 found visible proof of the adulteration in the boxes 

 delivered on account of Pressac, which the latter 

 had not even seen. It should be stated th.at oin- 

 chonine is worth 4.5 to 50 fr. the kilo, while 370 fr. 

 was being paid for quinine. Lacombe was still more 

 stupefied to find that in the boxes delivered by him 

 in October and November tho quinine occupied only 

 about a third at the surface, the bottom being 

 filled with cinchouine. The commission of experts 

 had failed to detect the fund, so that the hospitals 

 first served had received pure quinine, the next a 

 mixture, or account of the effeci of the shaking of 

 boxes, and the last were supplied with pure cin- 

 chonine. The commission is composed of 14 persons 

 of the highest respectahility, and it is therefore im- 

 possible that they could have been parties to the 

 deception. Lacombe, on being pressed by one of the 

 experts, declared that the quinine was furnished to 

 him by the Lombard Manutactory at Milan, of which 

 he wa? the agent, and that the fraud must have 

 been committed bv them, but after the lapse of 

 some days he wrote to the expert withdrawing his 

 accusation, and stating that a mistake had been 

 made in his own house. He confessed that he had 

 mixed sulphate of quiulne of a French house, of 

 which he nad two boxes, with the contents of the 

 boxes from Milan. The French product having a 

 batter appearance than the foreign, he placed the 

 latter at the bottom and the former at the top. 

 Hut he was convinced that the latter was quinine, 

 though he had since recognized that it was quin- 

 idine. He had mistaken llie labels, and in support 

 of his assertion he forwarded two labels meant for the 

 two products and deceptive to the most experienced 

 eye. This letter is at present in the hands of the 

 juye d' instruction, who hat been charged by the 



