Fbb- I, 1886;] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



567 



CONCENTRATED EXTRACTS: USEFUL mNTS. 



1. — It is not generally known that the juice of the 

 Jatrapha Cuiras, the common fence plant of this country, 

 is an excellent styptic. The fresh juice applied locally 

 to a cut or wouud at onoe stops all hicctling with- 

 out pain by simply coagulating the blood. It is said 

 even to cure aneurism by subcutaneous injections. 



2. — There is an excellent recipe for spicod beef. 

 round up IJoz. saltpetre, 14 oz. sugar, h oz. cloves, j oz. 

 allspice, a tea spoonful of grovmd pepper, a tea spoon- 

 ful of mace, half a nutmeg, and a pint of salt. Our 

 local stores miglit supply this ready mixed. Take 

 10 lb. of beef without bone, and rub it all over with 

 the mixture. Put some of the mixture at the bot- 

 tom of a pan just large enough to hold the beef, put 

 in the beef and stew the remainder over. Kub well 

 every day for 10 days, then wash, tie into shape, 

 cover over with lard or suet, put it into a pan with 

 a pint of water, cover with paper, and stew gently 

 for six hours. 



3. — A putty of starch and chloride of zinc hardens 

 quickly, and is good for stopping holes in metal. 

 The following will remove freckles: — 1 oz. of lime juice, 

 ^ dram of powdered borax, ^ dram of sugar ; mix in a 

 bottle and let it stand a few days, then rub the litjuor 

 daily on the skin. 



-4. — The Cantm Adjava7i, known in India as omnm, 

 is largely cultivated all over that country. Its seed 

 is regarded as the most powerful of all the umbelli- 

 ferous carminative see<l, containing the stimulant qual- 

 ities of capsicum or mustard, with the bitter properties 

 of chiretta or gentian, and the antispasmodic virtues 

 of assaftetida. As a whole it is superior to the 

 caraway. 



5. — The French plan of giving castor oil to children 

 is to pour the oil into a pan over a moderate fire, 

 break an egg into it and stir up. AVhen done flavor 

 with a little salt. 



6. — In putting up machinery for upcouutry, to save 

 carriage, a good plan is to cast fly-wheels hollow, 

 and then at their destination fill them with melted 

 lead. They atlbrd the same centrifugal power as a 

 larger wheel of iron, cost le.ss, and take up less room. 



7. — Corks can be made impervious by soaking them 

 for several hours in a solution of h oz. glue or 

 gelatine in a mixture of J oz. glycerine and, 1 pint water 

 at a temperature of about 120° F. Such corks can 

 be niade nearly acid proof by dipping when very dry 

 tor quarter of an hour into a melted mixture of 4 

 parts pjirathne and 1 of vaseline. 



&. — Water with lead in solution may cause paralysis, 

 colic, gout, rheumatism, kidney di.sease, and other com- 

 plaints. A\ B. — Aerated watt'rs sometimes contain 

 Ifal. A simple test is to add a little tincture of 

 rf>chineal, when the color willl be blue not rose. 



9. — Lactic acid and glycerine, mixed with water in 

 the proportion of I lb. of each to 8 lb. of water, 

 make a soldering mixture for tin cans of fruit, flesh 

 or vegetables, which is imported harmless from a health 

 point of view, having none of the poisonous pro- 

 perties of chloride of zinc. 



10. — The forests of the United States are disappear- 

 at the rate of 'Z5 million acres a year. There are 

 450 milllions of acres in the country. 



11. — The use of nitro-glycerine, that is dynamite, 

 is recommended instea^l of alcohol for stimulating 

 the action of the heart. Only a minute quantity is 

 required ; it is practically free from taste and odour, 

 it acts at once, and does not lead to the craving 

 for alcoholic stimulants. 



12. — Professor Vogel observes that the hemlock which 

 yields its alkaloid in Bavaria gives none in .Scotland, 

 and he concludes that sunlight plays an important 

 part in the generation of alkaloids. In confirmation 

 of this, cinchonas cultivated in feebly-lighted hot- 

 houses at home yieUI little if any quinine. 



13. — To remove rust : cover the metal with sweet 

 oil well rubbed in, let stand for 48 hours, smear 

 again with oil applied freely by a feather, then rub 

 with Vfirij finely powdered unslaked lime ; or im- 

 merse the metal for a few minutes until all the dirt 

 and rust is taken off in a solution of potassium cyanide, 



say J oz. to a wine glass of water, then take it out 

 and clean it with a toothbrush and a little of some 

 paste made of potassium cyanide, castile soup, whiting 

 and water mixed to the consistency of a thick cream. 



14. — .\ new cement for securing glass-stoppers has 

 been recently recommended, made of finely-powdered 

 oxide of lead ami concentrated glycerine, which needs 

 only to be smeared round the stopper. It dries quickly 

 and becomes; very hard, but can be readily scratched 

 oft' with a knife. 



15.— To remove ink stains from cloth: use oxalic 

 .acid or pyrophosphate of soda; grease, use turpent- 

 ine or benzine; turpentine or candle stains, use 

 Eaude Cologne. 



It).— Floors. To stain, I lb. burnt umber ground in oil . 

 Mix with boiled linseed oil till it becomes .suitably 

 colored without getting too thick. Kub in well with 

 a woolen cloth, then rub oft' with another till it ceases 

 to come otf. To wax, 1 lb. wax shaved thin mixed 

 with 1 gallon turpentine. Let the mixture work for 

 18 hours, then rub in with a woolen cloth. 



17. — The beneficial effect of salicylic acid on exzema 

 has now been well established. 



THE SUPPLY OF CINCHONA BARK. 

 The anticipations of an improvement in the cinchona 

 hark market, which prevailed some two months since, 

 have not been realized, and instead of bark command- 

 ing a price of ninepence per unit, as it was predicted 

 would be the case before Christmas, it was not much 

 more than half as much at the last sale. The last 

 .shipments from Ceylon about the early part of this 

 month have materially contributed to this result, as 

 much as a million pounds of trunk bark having then 

 been shipped in the course of a fortnight. Early in 

 the month 32,000 ounces of quinine sulphate were 

 i put up at the drug sale and sold at low prices. The 

 [ next bark sale will take place on the 12th of January, 

 I and it is expected that the quantity put up will be 

 considerable, though the harvesting operations in 

 Ceylon usually fall off towards the end of the 

 year. 



The changes that have taken place duriug the last 

 few years in the supply of cinchona bark deserve some 

 consideration from pharmacists, who have hitherto 

 been in the habit of purchasing cinchona bark more 

 according to external :ippearance than anything else. 

 It has been pohited out that the characters which 

 conventionally determine the market value of " drug- 

 gists' (piills" are very often fallacious, and have no 

 real connection with the quality of the bark. Thus, 

 for instance, quills of renewed bark, being destitute 

 of the appearance that has come to be regarded 

 traditionally ii.s an indication of good quality, will not 

 sell for druggists' purposes so well as quills of natural 

 bark; though, being in reality richer than the latter, 

 they are readily bought by quinine manufacturers. 

 A silvery coating on the epidermis of the b.irk is one 

 of the points to which a fictitious importance is attach- 

 ed, and not very long ago a parcel of fine quills, 

 having an intrinsic value of about three shillings per 

 pound as a quinine-yielding bark, realized at a public 

 .sale as much as four shillings and tenponce, simply 

 on account of the fine silvery coating upon the quills. 

 In another instance two parcels of Darjeeling quills, 

 that were almost identical according to analysis, sold 

 respectively for four shillings and a peimy and two 

 shillings and threepence. 



The variability of succirubra bark, as regards tho 

 relative proportions of the several alkaloids it contains, 

 is also a point of inqxirtance for the pharmacist to 

 bear in mind, and although the Pli:uinacopiBia now 

 only requires that cinchona bark usoil for pharmaceut- 

 ical purposes shall contain between five and six per 

 cent 01 total alkaloid, and that at least half the 

 quantity shall consist of quinine and cinchonidine, 

 many will appreciate the desirability of a.'.cerlaining 

 with more precision the actual amount of quinine 

 present in the bark to be used for pharmaceutical 

 purposes. The Pbarmacopieia definition applying only 

 to quill hark, shuts out from use the ihaviug.s, which 



