8 4 6 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[April i, i88z. 
own belief is that the discovery of substitutes for the 
cinchona alkaloids may be relegated to the Greek 
Kalends, while, if bark becomes very plentiful and very 
cheap, new uses may be found for it by the brewer, the 
tanner, the dyer and others. 
Mean time, fresh discoveries seem to have been 
made as to the philosophy of the beneficial 
action of quinine and the allied alkaloids in 
disease. In the first place, we are astounded to learn 
that the main ingredient in tonic mixtures or draughts 
is not really a tonic! If it restores tone to a debil- 
itated system, tonic it surely must be. But science 
probably, has invented another term for the process 
leading to restored appetite and increased strength 
by the use of infusion of bark We have for some time 
known that the grand use of quinine, when exhibited in 
cases of fever, is its power of rapidly and greatly lower- 
ing the temperature of the body. It is the sustained, 
irritating,, wasting, weakening beat which kills, and 
against this unnatural heat, quinine, properly and 
copiously administered, is almost a specific. Where 
it fails, more or less, complications of liver inflamed, 
or in a state of abcess, or of enlarged spleen are 
generally present. But how is the unnatural heat 
produced and how does quinine effect such great and 
rapid reduction of temperature ? The answer involves 
the not very pleasant reflection, that, when we eat, 
drink, or breathe, we take into our systems the germs 
of minute organisms, which seem to give more or less 
trouble according to their number and the health of the 
individual into whose system they enter. The modern 
theory of fevers, we are informed, is that they are due to 
the presence and enormous multiplication of organisms in 
the blood, the presence of which causes the rise in 
temperature, waste of tissues, and destruction of the 
strength. Now quinine is a deadly poison to fever 
organisms (in most cases), but is not a poison to the 
human subject. The effect of the administration of 
quinine is to destroy the organisms and to effect a 
lowering of the temperature, which is the great aim 
of modern fever treatment. The natural conclusions 
our readers will see, are that the use of quinine 
and the other cinchona alkaloids in modern medicine 
will be an ever-increasing one, and that, for a period 
so remote as to jbe practically indefinite, the cultiv- 
ation of the fever bark trees cannot be over-done. 
As to the possibility of a synthetical substitute, we 
leave our readers to judge for themselves, with this 
qualification, that, although alizarin seems really to 
have largely superseded madder, it has yet to ba 
proved that vanillin is other than a curiosity, or 
that artificial indigo, equal in quality and as moder- 
ate in cost as the product of the plant, has been or 
ever will be manufactured in the chemist's laboratory. 
The following is the quotation from theKew Beport : — 
"Possible synthesis of cinchona alkaloids. — The great 
extension which has been given to cinchona cultiva- 
tion as a Government undertaking in Sikkim, the 
Nilgiris, and Jamaica, and by private enterprise in 
Ceylon and Southern India has made it a matter 
of great importance to planters to ascertain what 
possibility exisis of the same success attending the 
attempts of chemists to effect the artificial manufact- 
ure of the cinchona alkaloids, especially quinine, as 
in the case of alizarian, vanillin, and indigo. As en- 
guries have keen addressed to Kcw on the subject, it was 
thought that it might be useful to Kew correspondents to 
obtain some authoritative information and Dr. Hugo 
Muller, F.B.S., Foreign Secretary of the Chemical 
Society, has kindly prepared the following memor- 
andum : — 
" ' The synthesis of the cinchona alkaloids will 
probably be effected sooner or later. It must, how- 
ever, be borne in mind that, up to the present at 
all events, there is, as far as can be judged from 
what is known about this class of bodies, no in- 
dication that this feat will be accomplished in the 
immediate future. 
" The chemical history of the substances [men- 
tioned above] which are now artificially produced, 
teaches us that, before the synthesis of a body can 
be prognosticated, its chemical constitution must be 
thoroughly made out, and this can only be at- 
tained by extended investigation of its products of 
decomposition in a variety of ways. Without 
going into detail, it may be safely stated, 
that, although some advance in this respect has been 
made with regard to the study of the cinchona al- 
kaloids, we are still far from having obtained a clear 
insight into their molecular structure, which, so 
far as we can judge at present, seems to be 
of a much more complicated nature than, for. in- 
stance, that of any of the abovenamed substances. 
The more complicated the chemical structure of 
a body, the more difficult in all probability will be 
its synthesis, and even after this has been accom- 
plished, there still remains the task of finding out 
means and ways to make the processes involved 
in it practicable for artificial production. If it should 
be found that there are no special difficulties in growing 
bark which like that of Cinchona Ledgeriana contains 
10 per cent, of quinine, it seems almost doubt- 
ful whether we ever may expect to find a synthetic 
process capable of competing with the natural pro- 
duction. 
" It appears, therefore, premature to anticipate 
already what may require many years to elaborate, 
and however sanguine we may be in our expectation 
of the achievements of chemical research in this direc- 
tion, it seems more than probable that we shall be 
dependent for some time to come on the cinchona 
plantations for our supply of this valuable commodity." 
COFFEE LEAF-DISEASE. 
We have already mentioned that experiments will 
be conducted on estates in districts so far apart as 
Dimbula and Eakwana during the present dry season, 
and we are glad to hear that there is now some pro- 
spect of Mr. Schrottky personally superintenoing 
the further experiments during the next season. 
The number and variety of the [ scenes of apply- 
ing this remedy will afford better means of 
arriving at definite conclusions. We understand that 
Mr. Schrottky has been asked how he intends to 
vary his treatment so as to make success as sure as it 
can be made, and he has embodied in the following 
rough memorandum the out lines of what he intends to do. 
It would be well to remember, in reference to these 
experiments, that carbolic acid has been acknowledged 
by Mr. Ward to be a remedy against leaf-disease. 
Mr. Ward stated that there is no doubt that it kills the 
germinating spores of the fungus and that more might 
be done with it, " were it not for tie fact that the 
accumulated powder and solution area source of danger 
at the roots." That no such danger exists has been 
amply proved by the results of past experiments: 
even with young plants there is no danger, for, Mr. 
