598 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
termined by evaporating tlie clear alcoholic solution to dryness. If an alkali 
is used for dissolving the quinovic acid,—as, for instance, from the leaves of 
C. succirubra ,—the apparent quinovic acid is much greater, exceeding even 
six per cent. By treating, however, this apparent quinovic acid with milk of 
lime, one can prove that only a part of it is really quinovic acid, the larger part 
being probably a pectic substance which forms an insoluble compound with 
lime. As experiments on a large scale have been made in Java and Sumatra 
with some pounds of quinovic acid prepared by me in order to determine its 
medicinal properties, I have thought it desirable to ascertain its quantity in 
every part of Cinchona which I subjected to analysis. That the quinovic 
acid is a very essential part of the Cinchona seems to be proved by the result 
of my experiments on specimen No. 6, the juice of C. succirubra dried in the 
sun, in which not a trace of alkaloids was to be found, whilst the presence of 
very pure quinovic acid was easily discernible. 
The leaves of C. succirubra, C. micrantha, and C. pahudiana contain traces 
of alkaloids, but I could not find quinine amongst them. The results of ex¬ 
periments on No. 7, Red baric, thickened by moss, deserve the greatest at¬ 
tention ; for although Mr. Howard had already ascertained that Mr. MTvor’s 
experiment of thickening the bark by covering it with moss had been really 
successful, I was quite struck by the enormous amount of 8*4 per cent, of 
alkaloids in so young a bark. The other peculiarity of this bark was that I 
never obtained Cinchona alkaloids so easily pure as from it; hence I hope 
that the experiment will be repeated by Mr. MTvor on a large scale, not 
only with the C. succirubra, but also with other species, and particularly 
with C. Calisaya. 
Before I conclude I must still point out the fact that the roots of all species 
of Cinchona which I have investigated, contain a greater amount of alkaloids 
in their bark than is contained in the bark of the stem. My attention was 
first fixed on this fact by repeated investigations of C. pahudiana. I enter 
upon no specidation whatever, but must persist in maintaining the fact, which 
seems not only to be true in British India and in Java, but likewise in South 
America, for the bark of the root of C. lancifolia which my friend Mr. A. 
Delonclre forwarded to me during my stay in Java, proved to contain not 
less than 8‘66 per cent, of cinchona alkaloids. 
From the observations I have narrated, I arrive at the conclusion that 
the introduction of the valuable species of Cinchona into British India has 
been completely successful, and that nothing is now wanted but a continuance 
of skilful observation and experiments, in order to make such introduction 
as lucrative in a commercial as it is interesting in a scientific point of view. 
The Chairman said the meeting was greatly indebted to Dr. De Vry for the 
valuable paper he had read. There were points in it of great interest. Thus, 
with reference to what Dr. De Vry had stated concerning the first appearance of 
quinovic acid in the young plants, it had been observed in other cases, that in 
plants which ultimately contained alkaloids, the acids with which such alkaloids 
were associated appeared in the young plants before the alkaloids were found 
there. Meconic acid, for instance, was found in the poppy before any trace of 
morphia could be detected there. 
Mr. Hanbury drew attention to the rapid increase which was being effected 
in the cinchona plants. This appeared to be in a great measure due to the supe¬ 
riority of the Scotch process of cultivation introduced by Mr. MTvor, which 
consisted in propagating by cuttings and layers, and not by seeds. 
Dr. De Vry said Mr. MTvor employed no seeds in propagating the plants, 
and found the method of growing from cuttings and buds much easier and more 
successful. 
