March 15, 1873.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
723 
in the Pharmacopoeia, for if the tincture be then fil¬ 
tered, no further deposit of lime takes place. Some 
time ago, being under the impresion that this supposed 
precipitate of tannate of quinine might be diminished 
or prevented by reducing the amount of tincture of 
orange-peel one-eighth, and substituting for it that 
proportion of water with the addition of half a minim 
of dilute acid to each grain of quinine, I adopted 
this plan, but without any noticeable change, save 
that tincture made in this way would deposit its 
quinine in a crystalline form on a reduction of 
temperature, the deposit, however, being easily re- 
clissolved by a gentle heat, when the solution re¬ 
mained permanent. When the tincture is made ac¬ 
cording to B. P., I have not noticed this change. 
It is only reasonable to suppose that a tincture 
made with absolute quinine would be free from this 
deposit; and to satisfy myself, I recently prepared 
a small quantity. The proper quantity of sulphate 
was dissolved in acidulated water, precipitated by 
ammonia and washed till no smell of that reagent 
was perceptible. The precipitated quinine was then 
well pressed between blotting-paper, and at once 
dissolved in the tincture ; a little cloudiness was ap¬ 
parent, which, in a few days, settled down into a 
light brownish flocculent precipitate ; very different 
in appearance from the white dense deposit of the 
former. This, when collected on a filter, was very 
small in quantity, and after washing with proof 
spirit, remained brown. It was insoluble in boiling 
water, but nearly all dissolved in water acidulated 
■with sulphuric acid ; so that I conclude it was prin¬ 
cipally quinine, contaminated with and possibly thrown 
down by colouring and astringent matter, especially 
when a little placed on a white slab and touched 
with a drop of solution of sulphate of iron gave a 
slight blackish discoloration, showing the presence 
of tannin, but in so minute a quantity as to 
be hardly worth notice. My object in making 
these experiments was to learn, first, if the precipi¬ 
tate ordinarily occurring in tincture of quinine was 
a compound of that alkaloid ; and, second, if the tinc¬ 
ture could| be better prepared from freshly pre¬ 
cipitated quinine. As to the first, we may conclude 
from the evidence already produced that it is 
little more than sulphate of lime; and as to 
the second, I think there is nothing gained. In the 
one case we get rid of the lime salts by filtration; 
and in the other, prevent their formation by a pro¬ 
cess requiring more time and labour, the result in the 
end being just the same. As regards the best method 
of preparing the tincture, my idea is to dissolve the 
quinine in as large a portion of the tincture of 
orange-x^eel as possible, say, not less than one-lialf, 
using a minimum of heat, and, of course, no acid, 
as I believe that addition besides being unnecessary 
is one cause of the deposition of quinine instead of 
preventing i t; and I am quite of opinion that a fair 
trial of the B. P. formula and close adherence to 
its direction will lead to a satisfactory result. 
COSTUS HOOT. 
Aplotaxis Lappa, Dene. 
BY JOHN R. JACKSON, A.L.S. 
Curator of the Museums, Kew. 
Under the name of Aucklanilia Costus, Dr. Falconer 
described a composite plant, growing on the moun¬ 
tain slopes of the Cashmere Valley, at an elevation of 
from 8000 to 9000 feet; and the aromatic root of 
the plant was considered to be identical with the 
costus of the ancients. The plant, which is a gre¬ 
garious herb, six or seven feet high, with an annual 
stem and a thick perennial root, is now referred to 
Aplotaxis Lappa, and has some interest attached to. 
it beyond its ancient history, from being at the pre¬ 
sent time, or at any rate when Dr. Falconer wrote* 
an extensive article of Oriental trade. It is sent in 
large quantities to Bombay, and from thence is ship¬ 
ped to the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and China ; 
also through Hindostan to Calcutta. As many as 
200,000 lb. are said to be annually collected and 
disposed of in this way at a considerable profit to 
the collectors, for it is estimated that about 2 s. 4 cl. 
per. cwt. covers the cost of collecting and transport 
to a mercantile depot in Cashmere, while in Canton 
as much as 475. to 485. per cwt. is realized. The 
article moreover requires no preparation for market, 
the roots being simply dug up in September and 
October, and cut into pieces from two to five or six 
inches long. Its chief use is by the Mohamedan s 
for burning as incense, but the Chinese also use it 
as an aphrodisiac. In Cashmere its only use is for 
preserving the celebrated Cashmere shawls from the 
attacks of moths, pieces of the root being put into- 
the bales in course of packing. When dry the root is 
of a dark brown colour, very brittle and apparently 
full of resin, but it does not burn freely. It has a 
strong but agreeable odour similar to that of orris- 
root. I am not aware that it is an article of import 
in this country ; but not long since I received a fine 
sample for the museum from a celebrated London 
perfumer. It is known in Cashmere as Root, and in 
Bengal as Putchuk. 
COMPLETE ANALYSIS OF CINCHONA 
BARKS.* 
BY P. CARLES. 
The immediate analysis of cinchona barks has 
already been partly made by Pelletier and Caventou. 
Those chemists found in each species, among other 
products, quinine, quinovic and cincliotannic acids,, 
colouring matter, fats, gum, starch, etc. Besides-, 
these I have found sugar, or rather glucose, the- 
the presence of which did not appear to be normal, 
but seemed to proceed from the splitting up of the 
cinchotannic acid, which is rather a glucoside than 
a true acid. Analysis has in fact shown that glucose 
is more abundant in the external layers of the bark 
which have also been found to be more rich in the 
tannin principle. 
There exists yet another element in cinchona* 
namely, ammonia, which I have carefully investi¬ 
gated, although its presence had been previously 
announced by Fourcroy, Reichel, Howard and De 
Vry ; for I thought it might furnish a glimpse of the 
truth as to the genesis of quinine and chinchonine. 
I also sought whether any relations existed between 
the proportions of this alkali and those ol the % ege- 
table alkalies. I therefore operated upon the three 
types of pharmaceutical species of bark, of winch 
the proportions of alkaloids were already known, the 
liuanuco, succirubra and calisaya barks.. In order to 
make the results more conclusive, experiments were 
* ‘ Repertoire de Pharmacie/ (n. s.) vol. i. p. 60. 
