455 
THF TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January i, 1889. 
Physostigmine, O15H21N3 O2. Eseridine, C15H23N3O 
Melting-point, 106° C. Melting-point, 132° 0; 
Very soluble in ether. Sparingly soluble in 
Crystallises with difficulty ether. 
and becomes amorphous on In crystalline white 
exposure to the air. powder and large 
Combines readily with acids transparent crystals, 
to form salts. permanent in the air. 
Form salts with diffi- 
culty. 
Perhaps the most important point regarding the 
new alkaloid is the fact that it bo closely resembles 
physostigmine (there is only a molecule of water of 
difference in the formulae) that when heated with 
acids it undergoes dehydration, and is changed to 
physostigmine. The physiological experiments with 
eseridine show that it has a powerful action upon 
the bowels, inducing copious mucous discharges from 
the intestinal membrane, without affecting the 
nervous centres the high degree that physostigmine 
does. Dr. Bber's investigations show further that 
the action of eseridine upon the spinal cord is such 
that its use is contraindicated in diseases wherein 
there is an excitable condition of that centre. Its 
action upon the spinal cord is similar to that of 
strychnine, but it is not cumulative. These parti- 
culars seem to indicate that eseridine is not unlike 
the alkaloid calabarine which Harnack and Wiskowski 
discovered some fifteen years ago, and which ac- 
cording to them was the tetanising principle of 
Calabar beans. The existence of this alkaloid has, 
however, been called in question, the doubts being 
based on the alleged physical properties of calaba- 
rine. We should not be surprised, therefore, if 
Harnack's alkaloid was found to be a form of 
BShringer'y eseridine. The latter has been given in 
the following hypodermic does to animals, viz., horses 
up to O'l gram, cattle up to 0 2 gram, pigs up to 
0-02 gram, and so on. A solution of eseridine, 01 
gram, with a drop of dilute sulphuric acid, in a few 
cubic centimeters of water keeps perfectly for a 
reasonable time, — Chemist and Druggist. 
AN AGREEABLE DISINFECTANT. 
To most of our readers the very words " disin- 
fectant, " " deodorizant, " and "antiseptic'' are at 
oDce suggestive of some unpleasant, not to say re- 
pulsive, chemical compound, of a more or less caustic, 
poisonous character, with a " smell about it, " too, 
of the class best described as repellent. Whatever 
the practical value of any commercial "disinfectant" 
may be, from a sanitary point of view, its immediate 
influence upon the noses and the nerves of those 
exposed to its vapour is often scarcely less objection- 
able than that of the decomposing organic matter 
whose evils it is persumably intended to neutralize 
or counteract. 
How many persons, we wonder, really like "carbolic 
acid, " or " coal tar, " in any form, or can refrain from 
shuddering when chloride of lime or bleaching-powder 
is to the fore ? Even Lalvarragne's disinfectant, not 
quite so coarsely bad-smelling as bleaching-powder, is 
too much for some people, and it seems really to 
be generally charaderi> tic of this kind of disinfectants 
that they should exhale a smell of almost cadaveric 
nature, which readily blends with the sickening ema- 
tiationB arising from the close atmosphere of illness, 
or the chamber of death. 
Ordinary perfumes have but little power to over- 
come or ma«k miasmatic smells of this kind, and they 
were certainly powerless to destroy ihem, or to para- 
lyse their suhtly-dangerouH germs of disease 
In " Eucalyptia," however— a highly rectified prepa- 
ration of thd essential oil distilled from the leaves o( 
Eucalyptus G/obiJui — Messrs, Borrouirhes, Wellcome 
Ai Co., of Snow Hill Buildings, B. ('., have now pro- 
vided us with a novel and really agreeable disinfectant 
and antiseptic which, wo believe, only needs to be 
better known to be exceedingly popular amongst 
medical men, druggists, and undertakers, as well as 
with the public generally, during those periods of ill- 
ness and dissolution which comes to every household 
in turn. 
Eucalyptia, is a fragrant, refreshing, volatile oil, 
wbicb, according to the report of a well-known hy- 
gienic authority — Professor Lascelles-Scott — exerts an 
antiseptic and anti zymotic action, which, weight for 
weight, is nearly four times as powerful as that of 
crystallized caibolic acid, and, therefore, iu common 
parlance, is from twenty to forty times as strong a 
disinfectant as the fluid carbolic acid of commerce. 
Unlike this poisonous, acid, bowev-r — the cause of so 
many accidental deaths and suicides every year— eucalyp- 
tia is not deleterious; it may be taken internally 
without danger (and, indeed, is frequently so admi- 
nistered with great benefit) ; it may be rubbed upon 
the skin, and no blistering or cauterization takes 
place, and, consequently, there is no great harm done 
even if it be " left about, " and "the chidren get 
at it." A few drops diffused in spray quickly renders 
the air of a close apartment wholesome and respir- 
able again, and in every case of death a little should 
be app ied upon and around the corpse, which will 
then retain its colour, form, and freedom from putre- 
faction for a comparatively long time. Of course, 
this is a great safeguard to the health of the living 
inmates of the house. The term "Eucalyptus" has 
been much abused of late years, and the oil mostly 
in the market is of a very mixed description, being 
now often distilled from any and all varieties which 
happen to be handy. We understand, however, that 
most of the other kinds are comparatively devoid of 
Eucalyptol — the active principle — but Messrs. Bur- 
roughes, Wellcome & Co., have been at much trouble to 
ensure that their Eucalyptia is prepared from the oil 
of the 'Eucalyptus Globulus only. — Indiarubber and 
Guttapercha Journal. 
Advertizing Ceylon Tea.— A firm of London 
brokers sends us a large poster which they acciden- 
tally came across, but which shows the eagerness 
with which distributors are buyiDg Ceylon tea be- 
fore the public. The poster is in flaming red and 
blue letters, and runs thus : — 
Co-operative stores Ceylon tea at 2s 4d uuknowu iu 
England nine years ago. 
Ceylon tea at 2s Id, 14,000,0001b. sold last year in 
Eugland. 
Ceylon tea at 2s 4d, is fresh and fragrant at the 
stores. 
Ceylon tea at 2s 4d, is sold at all the Branches. 
Ceylon tea at 2s 4d, it is impossible to buy a better 
at the price. 
Ceylon tea at 2s 4d, is full in colour, flavour, and 
strength. 
Ceylon tea at 2s 4d at the Co-operative stores, where 
the profits are divided with the purchasers. 
Assam Trade means in a very great measure 
trade in Assam tea, and accordingly it is to the 
evidence it gives of development in this direction 
that we mostly look in the recently issued records 
of river-borne trade for the Province. Some years ago 
only 337,000 maunds were exported from the Brahma- 
putra Valley, and 196,000 from theValley of the 
Surma ; whereas last year the total export in the case 
of the former was 461,000 maunds, and in that of 
the latter of 313,000. In the Brahmaputra Valley the 
prices fell to some extent ; but, despite this, both 
the quantity and the value of the export over the 
whole of Assam was greater than the outturn of 
any previous year of which there is a record. 
Clearly, the rapid advance which the Ceylon leaf 
is making in the markets of Europe has not as 
yet at any rate had any prejudicial efl'eot on the 
prospects of the industry in Assam. — Pioneer. [As 
yet there is evidently room for both, and we trust 
that demand may increase, so that there always, will, 
be— Ed. T. A.~\ 
