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BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
another varies extraordinarily in the same species,—sometimes quinine pre¬ 
dominating, sometimes the less valuable cinchonine or cinchonidine. We are 
as yet to a great extent ignorant of the causes of this variation ; but that they 
may be discovered and controlled seems to be the conviction of those most 
competent to form an opinion, for we find Mr. Howard speaks of a plant 
being “ encouraged ’’ to produce quinine instead of cinchonidine. In fact the 
process of coating the stems with moss after the removal of the bark as first 
practised by that most skilful of cultivators Mr. Me Ivor, is found not only to 
favour the rapid re-production of the bark, but even to increase its richness in 
alkaloids ; and it seems we may hope to go a step further and to settle what 
those alkaloids shall be. 
The success that has attended Cinchona culture has naturally led to the 
enquiry whether there are not other medicinal plants that may be intro¬ 
duced into our Colonies with equal hope of good results P Though we 
can certainly point to none at all comparable in importance to that 
which affords quinine, there yet are a few the cultivation of which is 
being attempted on an experimental scale. Of these, the most important 
seems to me to be Ipecacuanha, plants of which are now growing at 
Calcutta and Madras, as well as in the West Indian island of Trinidad ; but 
in none of these localities does the plant prosper vigorously. In fact the 
experiment looks as little hopeful as the Cinchona enterprise did when the 
first Bark-trees were sent to India by Hr. Boyle; and until we get a supply 
of good seeds from Brazil, I do not anticipate that it will be possible to make 
a fair trial of propagating the Ipecacuanha plant in India or elsewhere. 
The experiments made in cultivating the Jalap plant (Exogonium Purga 
Benth.) are much more hopeful, and I have the gratification of presenting to 
your notice the first specimen of that drug produced in India. It was grown 
at Ootacamund where "live roots carried from England by my friend Mr. 
Broughton were planted in January, 1867. These roots grew with surprising 
luxuriance, each producing a fine cluster of tubers : some of them were dug 
up in December of the same year, when the largest tuber was found to weigh 
over a pound and a half. This Jalap of India, you will observe, differs very 
notably in appearance from that we get from Mexico, owing chiefly to a 
different mode of drying :—in fact to facilitate this operation, the tubers have 
been sliced. It compares however, favourably with that of Mexico as regards 
percentage of resin, and from a few trials made in India, we may judge that 
its medicinal powers are fully maintained. 
Let me now draw your attention to a fine specimen of Calumba Boot, the pro¬ 
duce of plants cultivated in Mauritius. It is, as you will readily perceive, re¬ 
markable for its fresh and brilliant colour and, were it in the market, it 
would, I think, command a far better price than the somewhat dingy drug 
that has lately reached us through the ordinary channels of commerce. 
Here are some pieces of Calumba Boot in a living state recently brought 
from Trinidad by my friend Mr. Prestoe, (Superintendent of the Botanical 
Garden in that island :—Bemark the brilliant yellow hue of the freshly cut 
root. 
The Calumba plant seems to be of easy culture, and no reason appears why 
it should not be cultivated for the sake of its medicinal root in any country 
possessing a hot climate and a moist, rich soil. 
But though I am thus advocating the culture of certain medicinal plants, 
there is a vastly larger number, the culture of which with a view to profit, it 
would, I firmly believe, be a delusion to attempt. Drugs already cheap, abun¬ 
dant, good,—drugs in small demand,—drugs which are comparatively unessen¬ 
tial, or well represented by others,—those that are only procurable from plants 
octrees which arrive but slowly at maturit}',—those, which (like Sarsaparilla) 
