30 
NAT. ORDER.— PLINCHONACE^. 
The mode of obtaining the quinine and cinclionine (as given by 
Magendie,) is to " boil the bark in alcohol until it loses all its bitter- 
ness; evaporate the decoction to dryness in a w^ater bath; dissolve 
the extract thus obtained in boiling water, strongly acidulated with 
hydrochloric acid; add an excess of calcined magnesia; which 
after boiling a few minutes, fixes the red coloring matter, and leaves 
the liquid clear; when cold, filtrate, and v^^ash the magnesian pre- 
cipitate with cold water, dry it on a stone, separate all the bitterness 
by repeated digestions in boiling alcohol, mix the alcoholic liquors, 
and the cinchonine will crystalize as the fluid cools." 
The cinclionine and quinine may be obtained by one operation, 
as follows. Having obtained the sulphate of quinine, by the above 
process, (operating on the cinchona cordifolia ) decompose the 
mother waters, and the washings of that operation, (which hold in 
solution the sulphate of cinchonine) by magnesia or lime ; dissolve 
the quinine and cinchonine contained, in these liquors, by digesting 
the magnesian precipitate when washed and well dried in alcohol : 
if the spirit be sufficiently charged, the cinchonine which predomi- 
nates will chrystalize ; if it do not, further concentration is neces- 
sary. The cinchonine thus obtained, must undergo a re-chrystal- 
ization to purify it ; this is done by dissolving it in a sufficient quan- 
tity of boiling alcohol. 
Chemical Properties of Cinchonine and Quiyiine. Cinchonine is 
white, translucent, chrystalizable in needles, and soluble only in 
seven hundred parts of cold water. If dissolved in alcohol or an 
acid, its taste is powerfully bitter, and resembles that of grey-bark. 
It is dissolved in very small quantities of the fixed oils, and sulphu- 
ric ether. With acids it forms salts which are more or less soluble. 
According to the anal^ysis of Mr. Brand e, cinchonine consists of 
about — Carbon 80, 20 — Nitrogen 12, 65 — Hydrogen C, 85 — aggre- 
gate, 99 70. Quinine is white, iiicrystallizable ; it is as little solu- 
ble in water as cinchonine, much more bitter to the taste, as are also 
most of its salts, which are distinguished by a pearly appearance. 
