Miscellaneous. 



150 



[February, 1912. 



and tiny insects will be found in the 

 decayed tissue." The treatment consist- 

 ed in cutting away the unhealthy bark 

 and painting the wound with florium. 

 The wound healed up in a few days, and 

 fresh bark grew round it. 



Lac Cultivation. 



The Officiating Imperial Entomologist, 

 writing on November 20 last, states : 

 " In order to enable you to start lac 

 cultivation, I shall send two small crates 

 containing Rev(Zizyphus jujuba) brood 

 lac by post by the beginning of June 

 next. This will probably be on June 2. 

 Another consignment of two crates will 

 leave this place on June 8, so as to be in 

 your hands before June 18, the time 

 when the larvae generally begin to 

 swarm out. 



" I have also potted two Ber plants, 

 and one has been inoculated with Ber 

 brood lac this season. If on receipt of a 

 reply from you that the four lac crates 

 are spoiled in transit, I shall arrange to 

 send the tub containing an inoculated 

 plant direct to you via Calcutta. If 

 possible, I shall arrange to send you 

 some Kusumb tree lac to put on the 

 Kusumb trees, as well as a small quan- 

 tity of Fithecolobium saman lac ; but of 

 this I am not yet certain." (Kusumb is 

 Schleichera trijuga,) 



Referring to Mr. Wickiemaratne, Mr. 

 Bainbridge-Fletcher says :— " He has 

 learnt cultivating, scraping, washing, 

 and fumigating lac, and is fit to start 

 and supervise lac cultivation." 



The Government Entomologist, Mr. 

 E. E. Green, writing on December 9 last, 

 reports that he has not been successful 

 in his attempts to inoculate local trees 

 with healthy brood lac from Shorea 

 robusta nor did he succeed in inoculating 

 Jticus religiosa and Pilicium decipiens. 

 This unfavourable report is rather dis- 

 appointing, in \iew of the arrangements 

 being made to start lac cultivation 

 next year. 



Reports and Investigations. 



Professor Wyndham Dunstan has 

 furnished a full report on two samples 

 of coca leaves forwarded to the Imperial 

 Institute from Mr. K, B. Beddewela, 

 Maligatenne estate, near Kandy, where 

 he is growing the Peruvian variety he 

 claims to have introduced into Ceylon. 



The samples were submitted for identi- 

 fication to Professor Greenish, in whose 

 opinion the leaves belong to the variety 

 of coca known commercially as Truxillo 

 or Peruvian, and derived from Ery- 

 throxylon truxillense Rusby, 



The following extract from the report 

 is reproduced for the Information of 

 interested parties ;— 



Results of Examination. — The percent- 

 ages of ether-soluble alkaloids contained 

 in the two samples were determined by 

 two different methods, which gave con- 

 cordant results. The averages of the 

 results obtained in each case were as 

 fellows :— 



Ether-soluble Alkaloids. 

 In Material Expressed 

 Moisture, as received. on Dry 

 Material. 



Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. 

 Sample No. 1 .... 8*54 ... T02 .... 1'12 

 Sample No. 2 .... ll'OO ... 0-51 ... 0-57 



The total alkaloid, as weighed, was in 

 each case obtained in a crystalline con- 

 dition by adding a minute fragment of 

 pure cocaine to the ethereal solution ; 

 this afforded a good indication of tha 

 predominance of cocaine in the crude 

 alkaloid. The subsequent examination 

 of the alkaloids showed, however, that 

 the cocaine was accompanied by other 

 alkaloids. There is no trustworthy 

 method for the quantitative separation 

 of cocaine from the associated coca 

 alkp.loids, but careful chemical exami- 

 nation of the total ether-soluble alkaloid 

 from sample No. 1 showed that it pro- 

 bably had the following approximate 

 composition : — 



(1) About 19 per cent, of cinnamyl- 

 cocaine or ether-oxidizable alkaloid. 



(2) Not more than 1 per cent, of an 

 alkaloid, probably truxilline. 



(3) At least 80 per cent, of cocaine. 



In the case of sample No. 2, the small 

 quantity of material available did not 

 admit of a thorough examination, but 

 there is no doubt that the crude alkaloid 

 contained rather less cocaine than in 

 the case of sample No. 1. The amount of 

 cocaine present was probably not more 

 than 70 per cent, of the total alkaloid. 



Commercial Valuation. — The samples 

 were submitted to a commercial expert, 

 who stated that on the London market 

 coca leaves are sold by their appearance 

 rather than by their alkaloidal value, 

 and that judging in this way sample No. 

 1 would realize about 8d. to Qd. per lb., 

 and sample No. 2 about 5c£, to 5\d per lb. 

 (July, 1911). 



The expert pointed out that the value 

 quoted for No. I would obviously be too 

 low if the leaves were bought according 

 to their alkaloidal value. 



Remarks andConclusions.-The British 

 Pharmacopoeia does not specify the 

 amount of alkaloid that coca leaves 

 should contain, and the German 

 Pharmacopoeia does not include coca 

 leaves in the list of officinal drugs. The 

 United States of America Pharmacopoeia 

 requires that the leaves should contain 

 not less than 0'5 per cent, of ether* 



