Dec. I, 1S85.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



401 



THE NILGIIU CIXCUON.V I'l.VN TATIOXS. 



The rei>ort for ISSHI.sr, |ia< iv.ichi^.l ns, and we 

 timl itsre'iallv intoivsliiii; in vit-w of the fact that 

 Mr. Iloojiir, (hf lu-w <iuiiiohij;ist, has takpii up the 

 important work of analysis anil oompavison so 

 sadly intiTrnjjIfd by the mysterious disaiipearance 

 of poor lirouKhtoii. The one f;reat fact tliat strikes 

 us in readin!< the cinchona reports from hoth 

 Xorthern and .Southern India is, liuil. aiiart from 

 the successful introihiction of lln- Andean plants 

 and the cheapening of the febrifuge, beyond what 

 could possibly lie expecteil, tlie operation viewed 

 merely in the liglit of a commercial transaction, 

 has yielded a high money return. Apart from 

 Ihc value of the properties which till remain ni 

 the hands of the Madras (lovernnient, their own 

 balance-slieet shows that while the expenditure 

 from first to last, including simple interest, was 

 K-i,(;0.5,000, the nett revenue was Ii;{,ir>7,()00 ; show- 

 ing a )irofit of l!'i"i2,000. In the pai^t year, not- 

 withstanding the lower price of bark and the al- 

 most entire cessation of demand for seed.s and 

 seedlings, the balance to the good was no less 

 than E(i2, 474. In Northern India much was done 

 to cheajwn febrifuge and place it within reach 

 of the jioorcr classes by the preparation of the 

 mixed alkaloids, against which the only objections 

 have been that large doses of it produced nausea 

 (itself a curative process) in some cases and that 

 a considerable proportion of the alkaloids failed 

 to be extracted by the cheap and simple process 

 adopted. As the bark has been produced so plenti- 

 fully and so cheaply, this latter objection was so 

 far weakened. The result of .Mr. ISrougliton's failure 

 to produce a satisfactory febrifuge in the south of 

 India, led the Madras (iovernment to sell the 

 bark from their plantations, first in London and 

 of late years in Madras, and they have also tried 

 the experiment of getting parcels of their bark 

 manufactured into the various alkaloids in London 

 on their own account. Lately they placed about 

 2,000 lb. of bark at the disposal of Mr. Cleaver, 

 a chemist got out, apparently, by Messrs. ,\rbuthnot 

 iV: Co., and others, with a view to establishing 

 the munufaclure of quinine and other alkaloiils 

 in Madras, and in the government resolution on 

 Mr. Lawson's report, it is deemed jiroliable 

 that a company will be formed and a 

 manufactory established. Meantime, Mr. Hooper 

 the new (|ninnlt)g|st, had been so successful in 

 preparing a li.piid preparation of the bark that 

 Surgeon-tieneral Cornish, before his departure, had 

 rci|UCBted that 1.000 lb. of the febrifuge in this form 

 might be sui)plied to the Medical Department. The 

 one objection to what api)ears to be a most 

 eflicacious medicine, in this case, api)lies to the 

 bulk and the danger of breakage. Hut stone bot- 

 tles can be used, and as to cost of carriage, we 

 have to set against this the fact that tbelicpiid 

 febrifuge is ready to be adminislereel, without 

 weighing or mixing, doses being imlicatcd by a 

 quarter of a wineglassful, a half or a full glass. 

 We cannot but confess to a strong feeling iji favour 

 of tlie liquid preparation, altlmu^di, ot course, we 

 arc aware, how easily and rapi.lly Howard's eleg- 

 ant preparation, to which physicians are natur- 

 ally wedded, can be diluted by means of sulphuric 

 51 



acid (itsdi medicinal) and water. We await with 

 ijiterest the r.-p,>rl on the tlionsand pounds of 

 liqniil febrifuge which Mr. Hooper wai ordered to 

 lirepare, and the result of .Mr, Cleaver's mis- 

 sion and t xperiments. It is stipulated that the 

 ■• cinchona liquida " should contain 10 grains of 

 alkaloids lo the lluiil ounce. Mr. Lawson takes 

 no such favourable view as the (Unernnient 

 of Madras does of the result of i\fr. Cleaver's, 

 experiments, but he distinctly enunciates 

 the opinion that " the cinchona alkaloids eari be 

 isolated as well, and ninch more cheaply in India 

 as in any other part of the world." It is natural 

 to think so, but attempts in the home of the ))lant 

 in Bolivia have failed. The Howards and others 

 have secrets, by which th(!y are enabled lo extract 

 the last trace of alkaloid from the barks they 

 operate on, but now that the raw material is so 

 exceedingly cheap, the necessity for such exhaustive 

 chemistry is not ap|>nrent. Mr. Hooper seems to 

 have pursued the special study of cpiinology at the 

 Hague, under the direction of Dr. de Vrij. the 

 originator of preparations of mixed alkaloids, obtained 

 by the cheap chloride ot sodium process. One of 

 the first services he rendered to the (Iovernment 

 was to supply aruxlyses of barks which they had 

 for sale at Madras, the figures regulating the re- 

 seive prices. Mr. Hooper made analyses of KJ 

 sijecimens of crown bark (G'. (i^c/h,(//.v) and (i red 

 bark. The crown bark gave such excellent results, 

 in quinine alone as, from natural hark H-IH, mossed 

 4-0!t, renewed 1-22. branch 1-CiO, and root t-JO, 

 In this case only the lulnl (illitluiiU in red bark 

 were shown, but (piinine is separated in other re- 

 ports. The percentage of total alkaloids in the 

 red bark were :— Natural ")-10 ; mossed (;-87 ; re- 

 newed n-m ; branch 4-4r) and ;i-07 ; and root H-17. 

 The percentages .-ire, of course, calculated on 

 the dried barks, wliieh are lighter by nearly one- 

 third than the green bark. Our readers will observe 

 that the mossing process, first adopted by poor 

 Mclvor, is still persevered with in the Madras plant- 

 ations, and rightly so, where moss can be 

 obtained abundantly at a low price,- for an 

 experiment made by Mr. Hooijer confirms 

 the conclusion arrived at by Mr. Bioughlon many 

 years ago, that exposvu-e to the sun and light is 

 adverse to quantity and quality of alkaloids. Here 

 in Ceylon but few owners of cinchona trees can 

 afford covering of any kind. 



Mr. Hooper gives a table (quoted on pages 

 117-41H) in full, showing the alkaloidal value of 

 the princiji.il sp<cies of cinchona growing in (iovern- 

 ment and other estates. From the figures we 

 gather that ('. oillriiinlh, natural bark, gave r,-21 

 total alkalods, of which, 2-71 was (piinine and 

 1-28 cinchonidine ; mossed ()-07, ot which quinine 

 3-.58 and cinchonidine l-:!0 ; renewed, only ry'.)i 

 total alkaloids, but then 4-11 of this was quinine 

 and only -'.M) cimhooidine. The increase of the 

 more valuable alkaloid in the renewed bark (renewed 

 under moss), is very marked, it will be observed. 

 The narrow leaved variety of (^ t,jji,-iniilis, known 

 as niipiisti/olio, when mossed, gave 8-';!.") total alkaloids, 

 of which ."<-(iO was cpiinine. This looks well, but the 

 trees are (00 small to be worth cultivating extensively. 

 The hybrids are really better, because they yield 

 so umcli more bark. The baik ot ('. i),ih,''sirii.s 

 gave G total alkaloids of which :i-.f2 was quinine. 

 The best J.rdjjriiiiihi from South Wynaad (one of 

 Cajit. Cox's trees, we sui)pos(!) gave '.)•'.) 1 total 

 alkaloids, of which 8tl was quinine. This, of 

 course, would be the! kind to cultivate if clin'iate 

 and soil were suitable and plants of the true type 

 procurable, r. muruda and C. r«r(/c ot 20 months 

 old gave such promising resultR as 4'78 total 



