157 



cannot live in a wet, cold soil, they do require a sufficiency of moisture 

 to insure continuous and rapid growth, and this will necessitate the 

 practice of irrigation on any lands that may, in a dry season, or in the 

 dryer portions of every season, lack the proper degree of moisture to 

 make satisfactory growth. On the other hand, continued cold, rainy 

 weather, giving an excess of moisture, may injure the crop by stunting 

 the growth. 



In an official report made in 1881 by Dr. King, Superintendent of 

 the Botanical Gardens of Calcutta, artificial irrigation is considered es- 

 sential to obviate the natural effects of a dry climate. And it is pointed 

 out that the plants need moist air- no long dry, hot months — a natu- 

 rally rich soil, plenty of rain, and no extremes of temperature. The 

 conclusions drawn are that in localities where these conditions are not 

 found, or where the existing conditions cannot be modified to approach 

 them, it is useless to try to grow ramie. In the Kangra district of In- 

 dia the plant cannot be successfully cultivated without irrigation, and 

 the facilities for obtaining an ample supply of water at all seasons (the 

 dry particularly) render this district particularly favorable to the cul- 

 ture. Mr. Favier, in his account of French culture, has a special chap- 

 ter on irrigation, urging the practice as essential to success when the 

 proper conditions of moisture do not exist naturally. 



THE ALKALOIDS OF KOLA. 



By Fred. B. Kilmer, Chemist, New Brunswick, N.J., U.S.A.* 



The alkaloids so far identified as belonging to this plant are to the 

 chemists very familiar substances. Worthy of note is the fact of their 

 close relationship to each other in chemical formula and structure. 

 Also, that they are analogous and apparently identical with the alka- 

 loids found in all the cafEeic group of plants ; that they are closely re- 

 lated chemically and physiologically with the xanthine bodies, which 

 are found normally in the muscular and other tissues, such as the liver, 

 spleen, brain substances, etc., of the animal body. These xanthine bo- 

 dies are typical products of the downward destructive metabolism of 

 proteids. Similarly, the alkaloids of this plant seem to form when the 

 seed is on its way toward removal from the tree. 



Xanthine C 5 H 4 N 4 3 . Theobromine C 7 H 8 N 4 O q . 



Para-xanthine U 7 tL 8 N 4 ;2 . ( Dimethyl-xanthine,) 

 (Dimethyl-xan thine.) Caffeine C 8 H 10 N 4 O q . 



(Trimethyl-xanthine.) 

 The experiments made by the writer in the habitat of the plant seem 

 to show that the alkaloids are found chiefly in the ripe or nearly ripe 

 seeds (except that, in a very few instances, the pods have given faint 

 alkaloidal reaction ) . The wood, bark and leaves give entirely negative 

 results. Experiments are now being made to determine more accu- 

 rately at just what stage in the life history of the plant these bodies are 

 first manifest. In the limited number of experiments made, the re- 

 sults indicate that, in the green nuts, only traces of the free alkaloids 

 are present, and that the quantity increases materially as the nuts ripen. 



* Abstract by the author of a lecture delivered at the Pharmaceutical Meeting 

 of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, January, 1896. 



