July 2, 1888.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
'5 
their expenses, and many of them made a loss on 
the year's working." 
Mr. Gammie wrote again giving full directions : 
How to Make Sulphate op Quinine. 
17th May 1888. 
As promised a day or two ago, I have drawn up 
fuller directions for making quinine by the cold 
oil process which we have adopted here. I am 
sure you will admire both the simplicity and 
efficiency of the process. To me it appears to be 
nearly as perfect as any process can be. I may 
trouble you with a few more details by-and-bye. 
Tako 1,000 grains finely powdered yellow bark, 
,, 80 ,, caustic soda, 
,, 1 1 J oz. water, 
„ 16 oz. kerosine, 
,, 4 oz. fusel. 
Put the bark in a bottle of about 50 fluid oz. 
capacity. 
Dissolve thoroughly the caustic soda in the water, 
and mix the solution with the bark in the bottle. 
Then mix and add the oils, and shake the bottle 
well for three or four hours. Then tet the bottle 
stand quietly until the oil has become quite clear. 
The oil has now taken up the greater part of 
the quinine that was in the bark. 
Then draw off the oil and put it in another 
bottle along with oz. water, in which has been 
mixed about 25 drop3 of strong sulphuric acid, 
shake well up for five or six minutes. Should 
crystals form in the mixture, dissolve them, by 
adding a few drops more sulphuric acid, previously 
diluted, allow to stand quietly for the two liquors 
to thoroughly separate. Draw oft' the acidulated 
liquor, and again wash the oil with 1-J oz. water 
mixed with 5 or 6 drops sulphuric acid, which, 
in its turn, draw oft', and put the oil back in 
the bottle containing the bark, taking great care 
that none of the acidulated liquor is put back 
with it : shake again for an hour or two, draw 
off the oil as before, and wash it with the li oz. 
acidulated liquor already used, allow to separate 
and draw off. To make sure of exhausting the 
bark, it may be shaken up with the oil a third 
or a fourth time, but usually twice will be found 
sufficient. 
Now mix the two acid solutions (which contain 
the quinine), heat to near boiling in a porcelain 
glass, or. enamelled dish, until the smell of fusel 
has mostly gone off, and neutralize by adding drop 
by drop, and steadily stirring, a very weak solution 
of caustic soda, say one part of soda to a hundred 
of water, until the liquor shows neutral to test 
paper, when, if the solution be rich the crystals 
will immediately form out, but, if poor, not till 
the liquor cools.* 
To purify the quinine :— Allow the dish, in which 
the crystals have been formed, to stand over night, 
and in the morning separate the crystals from 
their mother-liquor by throwing them into a filter 
made of blotting paper. Dry the crystals and 
dissolve them in about fifty times their weight of 
boiling water. Then add a pinch of animal char- 
coal, say as much as can be held between the 
finger and thumb, and keep stirred for a few 
minutes : should many crystals form on the top, 
add a little more quite boiling water. Then filt r 
through blotting paper, having previously made 
both filter and funnel quite hot, returning to the 
filter the first liquor to pass through, as it usually 
contains a f< -v spec' - of charcoal. It is better 
to make the stream [com the filter fall against the 
side of the catching vessel, which will prevent 
agitation and consequent smashing up of the 
"Should an excess of caiiBtic soda solution he acci- 
dentally Riven, add sulphuric acid, drop bv drop, 
till neutral. 
crystals, also have the catching vessel quite hot. 
Everything in purifying should be as hot as possible, 
else there will be loss by the crystals forming in 
the filter paper. The filter paper should be washed 
with a little boiling water to take up any crystals 
that may have formed in it. 
When quite cold, transfer to a blotting paper 
filter as before, and after the mother-liquor has 
drained away, put the filter containing the crystals 
in a warm place to dry. As soon as the crystals 
can be easily teased asunder with forks, they are 
sufficiently dry. 
Both the oil mixture and acidulated liquor can 
be readily drawn off with a glass syphon. But 
the best thing for separating the acidulated liquor 
from the oil is a separating funnel. This is a 
cylindrical shaped glass vessel with a narrow tube 
with tap fixed in it at the bottom, But, if this 
is not at hand, a clear glass bottle with a hole 
bored close to the bottom would answer. In the 
same way the oil can be readily separated from 
the bark mixture by a bole bored in the bottle 
just above the meeting of the oil with the water. 
And other ways will readily suggest themselves, 
The mother-liquors, both from the crude and 
purified quinine, contain more or less of the alka- 
loids. To recover the most of what is crystallizable 
from the first mother-liquor, i.e., from the crude 
quinine, heat it up with a pinch of animal char- 
coal stirred into it, filter, and then evaporate the 
filtrate to one-half or less, cool and separate the 
crystals as before. The liquor will now contain 
what is uncrystallizable. To get that add an 
excess of caustic soda solution, when it will be 
precipitated. 
The quinine in the mother-liquor of the purified 
quinine can be recovered by evaporation in the 
same way, or can be precipitated. 
The animal charcoal we use is what is known 
as bone or ivory black. The caustic soda is 
Gaskell, Deacon & Co.'s white, of 60 per cent. 
Much of the success depends on the quality of 
the soda. 
Fusel is miscible in water to a small extent, 
hence there is a greater proportionate loss of it 
than of kerosine. So in working repeated batches 
of bark with the same oil mixture it is necessary 
to add a little fresh fusel from time to time. If 
the fusel fall very much below the proportion given, 
the oil mixture loses its efficiency to a consider- 
able degree, and becomes difficult of separation 
from the other ingredients. The fusel which has 
united with the soda solution and exhausted bark 
may be mostly recovered by distillation. 
J. Gamiiie. 
The above was intended for the guidance of the 
proprietors of a particular estate, with the hope 
that an experiment would be tried by them, with 
their own bark. But we feel bound to avail our- 
selves of the discretion kindly allowed us, by 
making the details public. Added to the official 
instructions issued by the Government of India, 
(which are reprinted in the Tropical Agriculturist), 
they ought to be sufficient to encourage what has 
long been projected and discussed, the establish- 
ment of a Quinine Manufactory at Colombo, where 
the large quantities of bark still in Ceylon could 
be worked up, so as to find, or wait, a remunerative 
market. The only objection is the very low price 
to which quinine has already fallen, but increase i 
demand, the result of this cheapness, is sure to lea l 
to improvement ere long. Quinine ought to ho 
much more largely used ill ...eylon than it is at 
present, not merely as a cure for fevers contracted, 
but as a prophylactic. For instance, if the Kelani 
Valley planters gave their coolies a dose oontnin- 
ng a few grains of disaolvod quinine each ra>ru- 
