824 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 1882. 
composition ; meanwhile, on account of its similarity to 
quinine and of the great action it exerts on polarized 
light, it may he distinguished hy the term "ultra-quin- 
ine." — Pharmaceutical Journal. 
TROPICAL PRODUCTS AND THEIR USES: 
CASTOR-OIL — BEES — ALKALOIDS — PARSLEY AND MILK — 
CUPREA BARK. 
(Pharmaceutical Journal.) 
A curious statement is made in the Bulletin cle la 
Societe d' Horticulture cV Orleans, that the castor oil 
plant is an excellent remedy against flies. Those that 
alight on the leaves and suck the sap are said to fall 
down dead, then- bodies becoming white. The castor oil 
plant is easily grown, and the experiment is worth a 
trial, although it is quite possible that the observation 
is a mistaken one. 
In a paper recently read at the Linnean Society, Sir 
John Lubbock showed that bees have a preference for 
blue colour, and explained the fact that there are so 
few blue flowers by supposing that all blossoms were 
originally green and then passed through white or yel- 
low, and generally red, in becoming blue, changes which 
may be observed in certain flowers during the -develop- 
ment of flower-buds, e.g., Boraginacese. 
Some experiments by Herr Karl Hock (Archiv, Nov., 
p. 358) point to the spectroscope becoming available in 
the detection and recognition of alkaloids and other 
vegetable principles. Thus if digitalin he dissolved in 
concentrated hydrochloric acid and warmed, a greenish 
yellow liquid is formed that gives an absorption band 
in the blue at F. If sulphuric acid be used instead, a 
brown red solution is produced that gives two dark lines, 
one strong one in the green at Eb, and another rather 
fainter in the blue-green before F. If a few drops of 
Erdmann's mixture be added to the sulphuric acid solu- 
tion, a third intense line is produced in the yellow at 
D. Delphinine, treated with sulphuric acid, gives a dis- 
tinct band in green-yellow at D-J- E. Cubebin, amyg- 
dalin and salicin all form, with sulphuric acid, red solu- 
tions which are easily distinguishable from one another 
by their absorption bands. Other substances that have 
been found by Herr Hock to give characteristic absorp- 
tion spectra of dark lines under similar conditions are 
belladonnine, solanidine, morphine, narcotine, codeine, 
papaverine, cryptopine, quinine and strychnine. 
Dr. Stanislas Martin, in the Bull, de Therap., remarks 
that fresh parsley leaves used as an external application 
act most efficaciously in arresting the secretion of milk. 
For this purpose freshly plucked leaves are used and 
renewed several times a day as fast as they begin to 
fade. He states that they were used for this purpose 
by the Roman matrons of old, and are still used by 
women in the East, who renew a cataplasm of the leaves 
three times in twenty-four hours. 
In August last mention was made in these columns 
(p. 179) of the fact that Herr Skraup had questioned 
the existence of homocinchonidine as a body distinct 
from cinchonidine, and had attributed the differences 
observed by Dr. Hesse to an overlooked admixture of 
quinine. Dr. Hesse has since replied, and whilst ad- 
mitting that the sample of alkaloid supplied to Herr 
Skraup was slightly impure, denies entirely his conclu- 
sions. According to Dr. Hesse cinchonidine occurs in 
several South American cinchona barks, especially in 
those from C. lancifolia and C. tucujemh, and also in 
I'jast Indian barks from G. succirubra and G. officinalis. 
In consequence of the enormous number of plants of 
the latter two species now under cultivation, it is prob- 
able that a considerable quantity of this alkaloid will 
come into the market in a few years. On the other 
band nomocinchonidine is found in the latter two species 
only si-li loin and then in traces, although it occurs in 
considerable quantity in South American red bark. In 
many respects the alkaloids closely resemble one an- 
other ; under similar conditions they crystallize exactly 
in the same form, but whereas cinchonidine melts 
at 200° to 201° C, homocinchonidine melts at 205° to 
20G° C. Both alkaloids when dissolved in alcohol or 
chlorofor m under similar conditions rotate polarized 
light equally strongly to the left, though hi acid solu- 
tions they differ. Much the same may be said of the 
hydrochlorates, both as to crystallization and rotatory 
power. But if 2 parts of the hydrochlorate be dissolved 
in 240 parts of hot water, and 1 part of Glauber's salt 
dissolved in the least possible quantity of water be 
added, the sulphate of cinchonidine forms crystalline 
prismatic needles, which when dried in the air, though 
they slightly effloresce, retain five molecules of water 
several months, whilst the sulphate of homocinchonidine 
forms delicate clusters of needles, which when dried in 
the ah shrivel up and lose nearly all water of crystal- 
lization. The difference in the sulphates is said to be 
perceptible to the touch and taste. At 22° C. homo- 
cinchonidine sulphate is the best soluble in water, at 
30° it equals cinchonidine sulphate in solubility, and as 
the temperature rises it becomes increasingly the more 
soluble of the two. Both bodies yield cinchotenidine 
upon oxidation, and Dr. Hesse thinks probably their 
difference is dependent upon the position of the hydroxyl 
groups. 
According to a statement in the Monthly Review of 
Medicine and Pharmacy (December, p. 374), an examin- 
ation of samples recently received in the London and 
New York markets as " cuprea " bark, seems to indic- 
ate that the number of bales of Cinchona nova held 
in stock, but called cuprea bark, is a not incon- 
siderable element in detei-mining the price of quinine, 
and that the real stock of bark available for manufact- 
uring purposes is considerably less than the monthly 
stock summary shows. It is not easy to understand this 
statement. It would be difficult to confound two cin- 
chona barks so utterly unlike in their external characters, 
Cinchona nova being thick and marked with transverse 
fissures, caused by the shrinking of the bark in drying, 
and its inner surface distinctly fibrous, while cuprea 
bark, on the contrary, is a thin bark, externally re- 
sembling the false yellow bark of Para, the periderm 
being coarsely cracked longitudinally, the derm also cracked 
longitudinally, with occasionally concave depressions, and 
the inner surface smoother than any other known cin- 
chona bark. It may further be noted that the bark is 
occasionally described as " Cinchona cuprea," which 
would indicate that such was the botanical name of the 
tree yielding it. This is an error, the tree not being 
known to botanists in this country, neither Mr. Howard 
nor the Kew authorities having as yet seen specimens 
of the leaves and flowers of the tree. Although it is 
quite possible that the name Cinchona cuprea may be 
given to it if it prove to be a new species, it is pre- 
mature to call the bark other than cuprea bark, or 
cuprea cinchona bark. There are apparently two or 
three varieties of the cuprea bark in commerce, but none 
of these in the least degree resemble Cinchona nova (C. 
magnifolia), and evidently all belong to the same group 
or section of the genus as the typical cuprea bark. Nor 
does there appear to be any record of the cuprea bark 
appearing in the London market in 1857, although Mr. 
J. E. Howard noticed a somewhat similar bark in 1853. 
Cinchona. — In accordance with a suggestion of 
Colonel Beddome, the Government have sanctioned 
the expenditure of a sum not exceeding R1,000 for 
the experimental trial of various patent manures. 
It is understood that valuable artificial manure can 
lie obtained from the firms on the West C >ast, Mr. 
W. Kowsoi), Assistant Superintendent, Government 
Cinchona Plantations, Neddiw uttam, having proposed 
" that our soils be Bent, home for analysts, and that 
suitable patent manure be procured from England." 
The Government have replied that no analysis of che 
soils need be made at present. — Indian Agriculturist, 
