104 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[August 10, 187?. 
Cortical Layers .—Tlie cells near the margin of the 
“ wood zone ” are very similar to those within the 
zone. The middle cortical layers are composed of 
much larger cells, elliptical in shape, sometimes 
oblong and angular, with thin walls. The outer 
layers are of the usual type. Liber cells are in¬ 
frequent, oval in cross section, with a central cavity. 
[To be continued.') 
LIQUID EXTRACT OF YELLOW CINCHONA. 
BY S. W. CLEAVE, SHANGHAI. 
The process indicated for the preparation of this 
important liquor is extremely unsatisfactory in prac¬ 
tice. The exhaustion from the bark of its medicinal 
constituents cannot be accomplished by water alone; 
and the evaporation of so large a quantity of aque¬ 
ous extract at 160° is not only a tedious operation, 
but one likely to damage the alkaloidal constituents 
from the prolonged exposure to the atmosphere. 
The U. S. formula is undoubtedly a good one, but 
from 1G troy ounces of bark the product is 40 fluid 
ounces, while we require it to be but 4 fluid ounces 
from 1 lb avoirdupois. The process which I now 
use produces a thoroughly reliable preparation which 
represents the remedial properties of the bark in 
every particular and keeps well. It is the follow¬ 
ing v 
Powdered Yellow Cinchona Bark 1 lb. avoirdupois. 
Proof Spirit.Oij. 
macerate four da} r s and percolate with proof spirit to 
Ib.ij, then percolate the residue with three pints of 
distilled water; boil the marc in three pints more of 
distilled water, and express. Evaporate the decoc¬ 
tion, add the aqueous percolate, and continue the 
evaporation. Then add the spirituous percolate and 
distil off’ the spirit; evaporate the residue on a 
water-bath to 4 fluid ounces, add 1 fluid ounce of 
glycerine, evaporate to 3 fluid ounces, and strain 
through muslin; and lastly, add 1 fluid ounce of 
rectified spirit. After a week, filter through paper 
to 4 fluid ounces. 
LOSS OF AMMONIA AND PHOSPHATES. 
BY H. MACCORMAC, M.D. 
I am not an agricultural man, but I take the utmost 
interest in agricultural progress. The loss of ammo- 
niacal ingredients and phosphates of transition I have 
long deplored, and very often have I intended to draw 
up some observations on the subject. I have now done 
so, and describe the means by which I would purpose to 
accomplish the important result of effectively rescuing 
the now lost azote lime and phosphorus of transition. 
Without further preface, therefore, I shall proceed to 
read my essay on * The Economic a ad Effective Arrest 
of the Lime Phosphorus and Azote of Transition, 
through the Medium of a prepared Humus or Soil, and 
their Application, along with that of ordinary Excreta, 
to Purposes of Agriculture.” The liquid phosphate of 
lime now sells for some £20, and ammonia at from £80 
to £100 per ton. Vast quantities of these important 
substances are imported from abroad, and very largely 
fabricated at home. But whatever be the actual amount 
made use of, the supply of animal and mineral phos¬ 
phates and preparations of ammonia falls far short of 
the requirements of the soil. Everything, speaking of 
alimentary substances, which the earth is made to yield 
ought to be returned in some shape to the soil. This 
plain and indubitable canon is nevertheless violated con¬ 
tinually. What the land gives is very insufficiently 
and sparingly returned to the land. Fluid and solid 
feculence, instead of being deposited in the soil, is 
suffered to pollute the earth’s surface, and the interior 
of human dwellings as well; or, gathered in cesspools or 
trailing sewers, contaminates the atmosphere, violating 
self-respect and human dignity, and _ everywhere pro¬ 
moting discomfort and disease. Agriculture, properly 
conducted, would enrich the earth, whereas it positively 
impoverishes it, so that foreign ingredients, apatite from 
Spain or America, and guano from the Chincha or other 
islands, are needful to prevent the land from wearing 
out, a spectacle which Maryland and Virginia, as I have 
witnessed, furnish on a large scale. As it is, the yield is 
vastly less than are our requirements, and much, very 
much, less indeed than what, with proper management, 
our 40 to 50 millions of acres might be made to afford. 
The better the soil is treated the more it will return, and 
the worse and more grudgingly it is treated the less it 
will return. Bad treatment involves bad and insuffi¬ 
cient returns, whereas good treatment involves copious 
returns—abundant corn and green crops, plenty of milk 
and butter and eggs, any amount of legs and shoulders 
of mutton, ribs and rounds of beef, flocks of poultry, 
flitches of bacon, and well-nourished instead of half- 
starved impoverished men and women. The food supply 
in these islands, though relatively less both in quantity 
and quality than what it ought to be, is still absolutely 
very considerable. Taking the returns made in June 
last, there were then, fractions omitted, some 9,000,000 
of horned cattle on hand, 31,000,000 sheep, and 4,000,000 
swine, irrespective of imported cattle and preserved 
meats. And yet of the 31,500,000 constituting the 
population of the United Kingdom, very considerably 
more than one-half almost never taste butchers’ meat at 
all, and of those who do, the meat supply might often 
be most advantageously increased. With spade labour 
or machine labour the equivalent of spade labour and 
house feeding, the corn yield and the meat yield of our 
acres might be doubled, possibly trebled, at once. Of 
course, stalled animals would be the better for a little 
daily outing, with strict attention to stall ventilation and 
stall cleanliness as well. As at present conducted, the 
feeding of stock, horned cattle and horses alike, is con¬ 
ducted with the greatest possible waste—the land is not 
adequately utilized, and the manure supplies, or possible 
manure supplies, are in a great measure dissipated and 
lost. Now, as manure is of quite as much moment as 
the soil itself, and as manuring ought to be carried to as 
great an extent as the soil will profitably take it in, it is 
of the very greatest urgency that no available particle 
of compost should be wasted. It is quite as important 
to save manure as to reap grain or to feed stock. One, 
in fact, is the needful correlative and complement of the 
other ; and yet the collection of manure is most imper¬ 
fect, and what is actually stored past is exposed to almost 
every element of waste and decay, at once over head and 
under foot. In addition to the proper storage and pre¬ 
servation of manure, in respect of which the practice of 
the Chinese Colonists in Java seems to me deserving of 
special attention and consideration, I propose that the 
solid and fluid excreta of man and brutes should be com¬ 
mingled with a prepared humus or soil, consisting of the 
following ingredients, as well calculated to ensure the 
desired results:— 
Prepared Humus. lb. or parts. 
Perfectly dry humus or soil.100 
Calcined gypsum powder, from.10 to 20 
Common alum, from. 1 to 5 
Copperas, from. 1 to 5 
Sulphuric Acid, from. 1 to 5 
These ingredients—and the proportions hold equally 
good for 1000 or 10,000 tons as for a single hundred¬ 
weight—duly comminuted and commingled, constitute a 
very effective disinfectant and deodorizer and vehicle. 
The cost of 1000 tons of earth or soil I need not specify, 
