February 15, 1873.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
613 
Ipecacuanha striecle la Nouvelle-Orenade, C. Menier, 
(These Inaug. p. 15). Ipecacuanha violet of com¬ 
merce, Thenot (These, p. 122); C. Menier (These, 
p. 15). Ipecacuanha of St. Martha and Carthagena 
Ipecacuanha of commerce. 
2. “ Minor” Striated Ipecacuanha. —Ipecacuanha 
ties Cotes d'Or and Ipecacuanha noir, Pelletier 
(Journ. Pliarm. vol. VI. p. 2G1). Ipecacuanha strie 
and Ipecacuanha noir (partim), Merat and De Lens 
(Diet. Mat. Med. vol. iii. p. 643); Guibourt (Drog. 
Simp. 6th edit. vol. iii. p. 94). Ipecacuanha strie, 
Thenot (These, p. 120). Ipecacuanha strie, C. 
Menier (These, p. 13). Ipecacuanha striata seu 
nigra, Yogi. (Zeits. (Est. Apot.). Brittle Striated 
Ipecacuanha, Attfield (Pliarm. Journ.. [2] vol. XI. p. 
141). 
THE DISTRIBUTION OF ALKALOIDS IN 
CINCHONA BARKS.* 
BY P. CARLES. 
The anatomical structure of cinchona barks is 
one of the points which have most recently attracted 
the attention of quinologists, who have sought in 
the aspect of their fracture for an indication of their 
richness in alkaloids. The characters presented by 
the various barks are so well established, and are 
reproduced so regularly, that M. Weddell has been 
able to attribute all the barks to three principal 
types.f These facts appear to be well established; 
but what is much less certain, according to M. 
Planclion, | is the seat of the alkaloids. Upon this 
point two opinions, diametrically opposed, have 
been put forth. 
“There is, ” says M. Weddell, §“ one fact well- 
ascertained ; it is that the Cinchona Calisaya is the 
bark richest in quinine, and experience teaches us 
that the barks which next to Calisaya contain most 
quinine, are precisely those of which the epidermis is 
removed from the liber by the successive exfoliations 
of the outer coats, or at least by their junction to 
the periderm. On the other hand, it is known that 
the grey cinchonas, which are principally the young 
barks of other species, contain a much larger pro¬ 
portion of cinchonine than of quinine; this occurs 
also in old barks that have retained the cellular en¬ 
velope of their earlier age.” The author, therefore, 
concluded that quinine had by preference its seat in 
the liber, or, to speak more correctly, in the cellular 
tissue interposed between the liber fibres. Karsten, 
in his memoir upon the officinal barks of New Gra¬ 
nada, maintains the same opinion. 
Wigand also concluded from his observations 
that the alkaloids of cinchona barks occur in the 
walls of the liber cells, because those organs have 
the property of fixing in a remarkable manner the 
colouring matter of a solution of cochineal. But 
Muller has pointed out|| that the walls of parenchy¬ 
matous cells possess the same property in a high 
degree. Moreover, these walls are so thick that the 
cavity of the cells themselves is, according to Jus- 
* Abstractedfrom‘JournaldePharmacieetdcChimie’ [4] 
vol. xvii. p. 22. 
f ‘ Hist. Nat. des Quinquinas,’ Paris, 1849. 
£ ‘Mem. sur les Quinquinas,’ Paris, 1864, and‘Drogues 
Simples,’ edit, by Planckon. 
§ Loc. cit. and ‘ Compt. Rendus,’ vol. xxviii. p. 729 : Report 
of M. Jussieu. 
j| ‘Revue Bibl. de la Soc. Bot de France,’ vol. xiv. p. 27. 
sieu,* almost obliterated, and could not, therefore, 
contain alkaloids. Other circumstances appear to 
tell in favour of this view of the question. When 
both surfaces of strychnos bark are touched with 
nitric acid, it is in the internal or liber part that the 
acid shows the presence of the alkaloids.f The 
poisonous alkaloids, (morphine, narcotine, strych¬ 
nine, says Ricliard,| are the product of the cortical 
cells, being present in the liquid they contain. 
When young,, these cells enclose nutritive juices; 
later, only air. If, therefore, the analogy were 
complete with the cinchona barks, the alkaloids 
would only be found in the younger, that is to say, 
the innermost fibres. But the foregoing assertions, 
if not pure hypotheses,—have the disadvantage of 
not resting upon direct experiment. One of the 
first thus to investigate the subject was Mr. Howard, § 
who made analyses of barks of C. lancifolia and C. 
succirubra, which had been divided into two por¬ 
tions : the one, exterior, consisting of the cellular 
layer and some cortical fibres ; the other, interior, 
consisting only of the liber layers. From his ex¬ 
periments he arrived at the conclusion that the super¬ 
ficial layers were not only the seat of the quinine, 
but also contained the largest proportion of both 
alkaloids. 
M. Carl Muller|| has also recorded some experi¬ 
ments upon C. Calisaya bark, the parenchyma of 
which he states contained 9* § 876 per cent, of quinine, 
and the liber only 2’462 per cent. The author, how¬ 
ever, is inclined to think that M. Muller’s mode of 
operating did not yield the alkaloids in a pure 
state. 
M. Carles, the author of the present paper, in 
order, if not to decide the question, at least to rest 
his conclusions upon a wide basis, experimented 
upon barks of various species. The different layers 
were separated by means of a knife or a rasp, ac¬ 
cording to their texture and the thickness of the 
bark, and each layer was divided into two or three 
lots. The method adopted was one formerly de¬ 
scribed by the author.** The quinine’was estimated 
as crystallized sulphate after heating to 100° C.; 
and the cinchonine and other alkaloids, precipitated 
from the mother-liquor by ammonia, were weighed 
after desiccation at the same temperature. In the 
following tables, showing the results, the designa¬ 
tion of the layers is not absolutely anatomically 
correct, in consequence of the difficulty of separat¬ 
ing them ; but by cortical parenchyma is meant all 
the more external layers of the entire bark, and by 
liber the more internal. 
C. Calisaya (fine bark). In 1000 Parts. 
Entire Cortical Liber 
bark. parenchyma. layers 
Quinine . . „ 20-40 . . . 23*40 . . . 13*20 
Cinchonine . . 6*40 . . . 5*20 . . . 4*80 
C. Calisaya (thin barks). In 1000 Parts. 
Entire Cortical Liber 
bark. parenchyma. layers. 
Quinine . . . 17*70 . . . 20*70 . . . 14*40 
Cinchonine . . 4*80 . . . 4*40 . . . 3*60 
* Report (Comptes Rendus, vol. xxviii. p. 729). 
f Guibourt, ‘Drogues Simples,’ vol. ii. p. 615. 
X ‘Elements do Botanique,’ 1864, p. 60. 
§ ‘ Quinology of the East India Plantations.’ 
|| ‘ Revue Bibliographe de la Soc. Bot. de France,’ vol. xiv. 
p. 27. 
*# ‘Journal de Pharmacie et da Cliimie,’ 1870. 
