130 
THE TROPICAI. AlSRICOLTURlST. 
[August i , 1890. 
tunity of studying the question at the notorious fever 
port Tandjong Priok near Batavia. His experience 
completely asserts the prophylactic, or preservative 
effect of quinine, and is moreover confirmed by that 
of his successor, as I learn by personal communica- 
tion from him. Every time his ship arrived at Tan- 
djong Priok, Dr. Graeser gave every one of the crew 
one gramme of quinine dissolved in geneva, and re- 
peated such dose on the Sth, 12th and 16th days 
after arrival, administering also on the intervening 
loth and 14th days half a gramme. His successor 
Dr. Buwalda varied the treatment somewhat. Already 
three days before arrival at the port named, and also 
during the whole sojourn on the coasts of Java and 
Sumatra, a period of five weeks, every man received 
a gramme of quinine three times a week. The quinine 
was likewise dissolved in geneva. AVith Graeser the 
interval between the first and second dose was some- 
what too great. His successor by shortening the term 
obtained also better results. The geneva was employed 
chiefly with a view to inducing the sailors to submit 
to their regular dose of physic. With educated 
patients the use of alcohol might be dispensed with, 
provided that a moderate quantity be not demanded 
by weakness of the digestive organs. 
Unless the country to be inhabited, or passed 
through is not altogether too pestilential, two doses 
of quinine a week may be sufficient. The effects 
should however on no account be frittered away by 
too small doses. All reports before me teach the 
uselessness of that, and the scientific view confirms 
it. On the other hand one need have no fear of any 
injurious consequences from such doses as those pres- 
cribed by Dr. Graeser and Buwalda. The evil effects 
often attributed to quinine should be rightly ascribed 
chiefly to the illnesses against which it is taken, or 
to unsuitable melhods of administration. In these 
must be included, as beforesaid, the passing of the 
insoluble sulphate into a weak stomach, and in no 
better medium than a volume of water. 
Springwater is almost always employed and of this, 
according as it is impregnated with lime and other 
Substances, much more than the 800-fold volume will 
often be found necessary to get the quinine to dissolve. 
That the proph ■ lactic or preservative effects of qui- 
nine have their limit, is a matter of course, and we 
expressly mention it here in order that the failure of 
exaggerated expectations may in no wise affect our 
faith in what is really feasible. Whoever lives per- 
manently under the influence of intense malaria may 
at last find the further employment of quinine 
impossible, since after all it is a substance foreign to 
our organisation, even though yet more hostile to the 
malaria poison. Like other things quinine is limited 
in its effects. Water is an excellent means of extin- 
guishing fire, yet may be powerless against a conflsgra" 
tion, and though wool is a good preservative against 
cold, one may perish in the thickest clothes. 
The well known fact in the present day that the 
malaria poison proceeds from decay of vegetable 
matter, and is itself in reality a species of lowest 
organism that affects us by pienetrating into the 
blood, renders the preservative action of quinine 
perfectly intelligible. For if such organism on reach- 
ing the blood encounters that chemical substance to 
which it is especially sensitive, its developement and 
increase is arrested, and the consequences that would 
otherwise follow, fever, swelling of the spleen, disinte- 
gration of the blood are prevented. Quinine is not as 
formerly supposed, simply a tonic to tho nervous 
system enabling better resistance to disease ; only in- 
direcily does it exercise such bracing effect. 
No value should be attached to the many medica- 
ments recommended as substitutes for quinine in cases 
of fever. Not one of them is at all equal to it iu effi- 
cienc). Only arsenic can bo sometimes substituted 
with advantage, whether however it can be so iu 
general, and under such fluctuating conditioms an a 
journey in wild countries carries with it, is unknown 
to me. 
Hydrochlorate of r|ninino is roinewhat dearer than the 
sidphate. In one of the latest 2 >tielis(„s I find the 
former given as costing 2/8 and the sulphate 1/8 the 
ounce. The difference is owing chiefly to the factories 
being arranged principally for the production of the 
sulphate on a large scale, and the hydrochlorate involv- 
ing a further process. To the consumer however the 
difference in price is almost neutralised by the larger 
contents in the hydrochlorate of the pure alcaloid, 83 
parts being contained in the hydrochlorate against 
only 74 parts in the sulphate. An equal wright of the 
hydrochlorate goes therefore much farther, apart from 
its greater solubility and easier assimilation by the 
stomach. Lastly the hydrochlorate of quinine is much 
more rarely adulterated than the sulphate. 
^ 
GEEMINATION OF SEED. 
It is a common mistake to suppose that in order 
to produce a mature plant we must allow the seem 
to germinate, aud the resultant plautlet to fix itsed 
in a soil and draw nutriment by means of roote frolf 
mother earth. Any plant will grow as well in water 
if it contains the proper food stuffs in the proper 
quantities, as it will in soil of the very richest and 
most fertile kind. All that has to be done is to 
germinate the seed on a piece of moist flannel, and 
then transfer it to a jar containing to every litre 
(about IJ pint) of water the following quantities of 
the following substances : — 1 gramme of nitre ; § 
gramme of each of the following — sulphate of lime 
(plaster of Paris) sulphate of magnesia (Epsom salts), 
and phospate of lime. An iron nail must also be kept 
in the water to give to the plant the almost in- 
finitesimal amount of iron which it requires. This 
mixture of water and salts must be renewed about 
once a fortnight. Of course the root portion only of 
the plantlet is to be immersed in the water ; the stem 
part which bears the green leaves must be allowed 
to stand out freely into the air. In Germany it has 
been the custom for many years to set aside some 
portion of the botanic garden for the growth of plants 
of all kinds, from the smallest herbs to the loftiest trees, 
in food solutions of the kind described above, i.e., 
by what is commonly known to botanists as the 
system of water culture . — Indian Ayricidturist. 
^ 
A BAJilBOO. 
(Bambusa palmata, hoet.) 
One of the most noble and distinct of all the 
Bamboos, so far as its foliage is concerned, is one 
sent to us under the above name by M. Marliao, the 
well-known specialist of TempIe-sur-Lot (Lot-et- 
Garonne), France. Without flowering material. Bam- 
boos are exceedingly difficult to make out specifically ; 
but so far as leafage goes, the plant resembles Guadua 
or Dendrocalamus latifolia, as illustrated at plate vi 
of General Monro’s Monograph of the Bamhiisacece. 
So far, B. Kagamouski has been our largest-leaved 
species, but B. palmata has much finer leaves, and is 
more erect in habit. As sent by Mr. Marliac, the 
stems are 5 feet in height, with from five to seven 
leaves at their apices only; the largest of these leaves 
are 12 to 13 inches in length by 4 to 5 inches in 
breadth at their widest part. The figure (1061. shows 
the stems and the leaves about one-third of their 
natural size. Above, the leaves are of a rich yellowish- 
green tint, finely lined or veined and below they 
are of a soft blue or glaucous hue. The plant is 
said to be hardy, but even if it should not be so under 
all circumstances, the plant is so noble and distinct 
in habit and leafage that it is well worth pot or tub 
culture iu the greenhouse or conservatory. 
It would be very interesting if the growers of 
Bamboos in continental gardens would tell us some- 
thing as to the species and varieties they cultivate. 
Again, how many species are there hardy in Great 
Britain aud Ireland? My own experience with about 
a dozen kinds is, that they will withstand a good deal 
cf cold weather and actual frost, but that they will 
