July i, i8gi.] THE TROPiOAL AQRIGULTURSST. 
EFFECTS OF THE EARTHQUAKE OF 
APRIL 7TH ON THE TIDES AT 
TANGALLA. 
The intereating acoouat by Mr. Surveyor Erskine 
of the violent perturbations of the sea at Tan- 
galla, during the earthquake period early in April, 
which aooouut we owe to the courtesy of Government, 
will excite general atfention and will be Carefully 
studied scientific men. As wo have 
heard nothing from the great volcanic eentrea 
of the east, wo feel justified now in tracing 
the Buooessive disturbanoes of earth and sea 
to some subterranean or submarine volcanic cavity 
immediately beneath our island, — not a very com- 
forting conclusion to arrive at. 'But wa should 
like to have the opinions of scientists, such as the 
Eoyal Engineer Officer who acts as Surveyor-General, 
Mr. George Armitage and others on this question. 
Some day we may have a quake which will do 
something more than " shake the isle from its 
propriety." 
THE EARTHQUAKE AT TANGALLA. 
Sarveyov-General's Office, OoJombo, May 6. 
The Hon. tho Colonial Secretary. 
Sir, — I bi've the houor to forward herewith an 
interesting r. port by Mr. Erekiue, District Surveyor 
ia charge of Tangalla Bay surveye, with reference to 
a disturbance in the tidn at that station og the day 
of the recent earthquake. No doubt many would bo 
interested in the memorandum who would not see 
an ordinary official report ou the subject, and I would 
therefore suggest that it might with advantage be 
sent to the several papers for publication, — I have, 
etc., (Signed) Francis J. Day, Major e. e., Acting 
Surveyor-General. 
Tangalla, April 13. 
The Chief Surveyor, Southern Province. 
1 beg to report that owing to the unsettled state 
of the water combined with the high tide on Wed- 
nesday I gave orders for the tide box to be removed; 
otherwise it may have got seriously damaged and 
washed away. 
There seems to have been some unusual disturbance 
of tides since Saturday night, the 4th instant. The 
gauge pencil was not marking the paper as it had 
hitherto done. Ou this night the pencil line on paper 
had the appearance of being slightly shaken, thus 
marking an irregular pencil line about quarter of an 
inch broad. Nothing unusual happened till Tuesday, 
the 7th instant. I registered the tide reaoing in 
the morning, and after returning from work at sea 
about 11 a.m., I noticed it had registered high tide 
and was falling and had fallen one foot in the short 
space of three hours. Usually high tide at this 
period is at 1 or 2 p. m. Curiosity took me down 
again to the tide gauge at 1-30 p.m. when I was still 
more astonished to find the tide had risen to three 
feet on the box in two hours and a. half. Fearing 
something might happen I stood by the box 
and watched the movements of the indicator. At 
this Bta^e I took off the pencil as it had gone above 
the paper. At half past three the indicator went up 
to the top of box and would have gone higher if 
the indicator could have registered the reading. The 
highest reading on box is 3'70. The low tide todaj' 
registered 0 64, and I am certain the high tide would 
have been 4-50. During this time there was a con- 
tinuous rise and fall of eighteen inches below the level 
of top of box at intervals of 10 and 20 minutes ; 
at these intervals the water round about appeared to 
ri«e in one volume, receding: very quickly but generally 
falling to the same level. 
In cftfle of an accident to the tide box, I took a 
reading on to a B. M. on rock close by and stayed 
on till 4-30 p.m. At this hour there was very little 
abatement of the tide. Mr. Grey was busily engaged 
with all hands repairing the breaches as soon as 
possible. 
On Wednesday morning I visited the tide gauge 
but found the iido had btea normal at low but S'ls 
high during the nigiit. I left Mr. Grey to supervise 
the repairs to breakwater. After breakfast I sent him 
down at 11 a. m. to carefully watch and let me 
know if there waa a repetition of the day previous 
The tide during the day was again noticeable from 
its extraordinary movements. Mr. Grey informed ma 
(hat the tide registered 2 80 on the box at 1-30 p. ni • at 
1-45 p. m. it suddenly rose to 3-30 and receded very 
soon again to about 2-80; at 2 p. m. while he wag 
watching the movements of the pencil, the indiostor 
sudileuly rose again, (this time to top of box) with great 
force and immediaiely receded. The level of the water 
was within an inch or two of ziro of box. On this 
occasion high tide may have registered five feet. From 
thin time until 5 p. m. the tide rose on several occasions 
to top of hor but not with such force as at 2 p. m. 
The tide box v/sa now ia danger of bein,<? washed 
away. I gave orders for its immediate removal. The 
sand bags weighing 240 lb each were swept away in 
every direction. (Signed) H, Eeskine. 
A NEW ARTIFICIAL QUININE. 
When an announoement is made n 'wadays that soma 
chemist has discovered the way to mB?:e n. complictcd 
organic compound, whifh only Nainra hithnrto has 
been able to fabhiou, thera are two m»tliods of treating 
the matter: either with uncompromising Fcepticism, 
or unbridled enthusiasm. Should the organic sub- 
stance be quinine, then there is a chance for buyers 
thereof to paint in dull colours the future of the 
cinchona industry, in the hope of buying the alkaloid 
cheaply meanwhile. Such people might have a very 
good innings this week, for we hear from Paris that 
Grimaux and Arnaud, two chemiats whose reputation 
places them above saapicion, have succeeded in pro- 
ducing quinine arliacially ; that is to say, they have 
converted commercially worthless cupreine, the 
peculiar alkaloid of Rsmijia bark, into the more valu- 
able quinine. Their process seems theoretically correct. 
Oupreme is an alkaloid differing from quinine to the 
extent of OH.^, viz. : — 
Quinine, C,„H,,N,0,. Oupreine, 0, ^N.O;. 
Cupreine has the property of combining very readily 
with alkalies and other bases (upon this depends the 
B. P. test for its detection in quinine) to form definite 
orystallisable compounds. Thus the sodium one ia 
Oj jNaN.^O.,. Hesse, the German chemist to 
whom the Hanbury medal is to be awarded on May 
26th, was tho first investigator to establish this, and 
he conceived that it migbt be possible, by introducing 
a methyl group, CH3 in the place of the sodium, to 
produce quinine. Ha tried this by converting sodium, 
cupreine into silyer-cupreine, and acting on the latter 
with methyl iodide. The result waa the prodaction 
of methyl-eupreine iodide, C, jN^OjCHgl, and 
from this, unfortunately, only the iodine atom could 
be abstracted, and no one of hydrogen along with it, 
which would have left quinine, or an ieomeride thereof. 
This was an interesting synthtsis, and the product," 
monomethyl-oupreine, was not unlike quinine in some 
of its properties — as, for instance, in giving the green 
reaction with chlorine and ammonia. Whether 
Grimanx and Aruaud have profited by Hesse's experi- 
ments or not we are not in a position to asy defi« 
nitely, det.dls being wanting, but it would appear 
that they huve, for thoir proctsa of converting the 
cupreine into quinine is in two atagen, like Hesse'a 
—viz., (1; production of sodinm-copreiue, and (2) 
acting upon that with methylene chloride, OH3CI. 
By so working, it is stated, "there is obtained a body 
which is identical with natural quinine, and, by sub- 
stituting ethylene or higher derivatives for the methy- 
leue compound, aubstanoes analagous to quinine are 
produced, which, it is believed, may possess most 
interesting medical properties." 
The reiiBon why mothylisiug failed in Hesse's case 
was owing to the sodium refusing to join hands with 
the iodine, preferring union with hydrosji. or 6 
