110 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[August G, 1870. 
20. The total expenditure for the year on the Sikhim 
cinchona cultivation was Rs. 50,224, being Rs. 18,642 
less than the estimate, and Rs. 18,040 less than that of 
the preceding year. 
21. The C. succirubra trees stand 6 feet by 6 in the 
plantations, and, as an experiment in January last, a 
small portion of the denser plantation was thinned by 
cutting down three trees out of every four. This was 
found to produce 300 lbs. of dried bark, worth about 
Rs. 250 per acre. 
22. At the same time a considerable portion of the 
more advanced trees were pruned by the removal of the 
lower branches. There was stored from the thinnings 
and prunings in all 2400 lbs. of dried bark. 
23. The only private plantation in Sikhim, which (so 
far as I know) is extending cinchona planting on a con¬ 
siderable scale, is that of Mr. Lloyd and Colonel Angus, 
known as the Darjeeling Cinchona Association, and 
which occupies the north side of the Rungbee valley. 
This Association now has about 500 acres of permanent 
plantation of C. succirubra , and has cut a considerable 
quantity of three-year-old bark during the late cold 
weather, and sold it in the London market. 
24. The Government cinchona plantation at Nunklow, 
in the Khasi Hills, was formed for the supply of cin¬ 
chona plants to the planters in Assam and Cachar. 
Seed is now easily transmitted, and I believe the discon¬ 
tinuance of the plantation at Nunklow has been decided 
upon by Government. 
Number and distribution of Cinchona plants in the Govern¬ 
ment plantations near Darjeeling on the 31s£ March, 
1870. 
Names of spe¬ 
cies of cin¬ 
chona. 
Number in permanent 
plantations. 
Number of stock plants 
for propagation. 
Number of seedlings or 
rooted cuttings in nur¬ 
sery beds for perma¬ 
nent plantations. 
Number of rooted plants 
in cutting beds. 
Number of cuttings 
made during the 
month. 
Total number of plants, 
cuttings, and seed¬ 
lings. 
C. succirubra 
1,055,100 
20,000 
164,615 
None 
None 
1,239,715 
C. calisaya ... 
4,000 
A0.000 
8,758 
32,274 
2,000 
57,032 
C. micruntlia 
29,667 
None 
None 
None 
None 
29,667 
C. officinalis, 
and varieties. 
406,899 
10,000 
205,952 
307,853 
Ditto 
930,704 
C. pahudiana 
5,092 None 
None 
None 
Ditto 
5,092 
Total . 
1,500,758 40,000 
379,325 
340,127 
2,000 
2,262,210 
C. B. Clarke, 
Officiating Superintendent , Botanic Garden , and in 
charge of cinchona cultivation in Bengal. 
Conversion of Angelic into Valerianic Acid.— 
According to Jaffe, angelic acid is not converted into 
valerianic acid by means of hydriodic acid. According 
to Ascher, a temperature of 180° to 200° C. is needed for 
this transformation, which does not take place at low 
temperatures. By heating together angelic acid, red 
phosphorus, and hydriodic acid to 180° to 200° C., for the 
space of eight hours, a complete transformation into va¬ 
lerianic acid was effected. As our readers will know, 
angelic acid differs from valerianic acid by two equiva¬ 
lents of hydrogen, which, according to the foregoing ac¬ 
count, it acquires from the hydriodic acid. 
Determination of the Value of Cinchona Bark. 
—The methods of determining the value of cinchona 
bark may be divided into two classes, viz. those which 
give the total amount of alkaloids all together, without 
distinguishing between them, and those which give the 
amount of pure quinine. Those belonging to the former 
class may, in fact, be regarded as abandoned, because 
they are calculated to assign the same value to bark con¬ 
taining only modified and uncrystallizable alkaloids as 
to bark containing a corresponding amount of pure 
quinine. 
The methods most practised for determining p-ure 
quinine are based upon the use of ether or chloroform 
for purifying the quinine to be determined, or, in other 
words, they represent, as quinine, all the alkaloid solu¬ 
ble in ether and chloroform. It may be stated, without 
much need of examination, that these methods are calcu¬ 
lated to lead to serious errors. For instance, is it not 
evident that by this use of ether, bark containing only 
aricine, may be regarded as of good quality, inasmuch as 
that alkaloid is soluble in ether ? Moreover, the inade¬ 
quacy of these methods may be demonstrated in a manner 
entirely different. All manufacturers of quinine have 
been led to abandon them on account of the loss expe¬ 
rienced in many instances to a large extent. They have 
purchased as rich, samples of bark that yielded only 
small quantities of quinine. At the present time manu¬ 
facturers have adopted the plan of determining the value 
of bark by means of a miniature operation, conducted in 
the same way as the manufacture on a large scale. This, 
it must be admitted, is the most judicious method, and 
probably the only one that can be depended on. 
Though the method suggested by M. Carles is not 
open to the objections raised against those formerly in 
use, we do not consider that it should be preferred to 
that just mentioned for the purposes of manufacturers. 
At the same time it may be useful for pharmacists, since- 
it is more accurate than others. 
His method consists in determining quinine in the state- 
of crystallized sulphate, after its separation from other 
alkaloids whose sulphates are more soluble. Moreover, 
by the use of chloroform as a solvent, and the separation 
of resins by means of dilute sulphuric acid, it is possible 
to obtain sulphate of quinine in a very satisfactory state 
of purity and whiteness. 
The chief disadvantage of the method consists in re¬ 
lying too much on a slight artifice, by means of which 
the soluble sulphate of quinine is converted into crystals 
by washing with ammonia. This is an operation requiring 
some dexterity in manipulation. It is also to be regretted 
that M. Carles has not determined the solubility of the sul¬ 
phate in the mother liquors obtained in the operation, for 
since they contain sulphates of other alkaloids, they may 
also contain some quinine.* 
Fatal Case of Poisoning- of a Man and a 
Horse. —In the August number of the ‘Journal of” 
Botany ’ is a short notice of a rapidly fatal case of poi¬ 
soning by Qdnantlxe crocata. This is an umbelliferous- 
plant of common occurrence in the south of England,, 
and has frequently been eaten by mistake for other 
allied plants with fatal effects. In the present instance, 
it was mistaken for “ wild parsnip ” by a carter, who- 
thought himself afflicted with “ scurvy.” The man ate 
some of the root whilst at work, and about an hour- 
after he fell back foaming at the mouth, and black in 
the face. He died before the arrival of medical aid 
about half an hour after the first effects, one hour and a 
half after the ingestion of the poison. On post-mortem 
examination, about “ half a small cupful ” of the masti¬ 
cated root was found in the stomach. The horse to 
which the man had given some of the root lived half air 
hour longer than the man. (En ant he crocata belongs to 
that group of narcotico-acrid poisons comprising the 
Solanacece, and characterized by producing convulsions 
with delirium. Death may even occur more rapidly 
than in the above case. It is of interest to note, as the 
point is one which has been several times observed, that 
the juice of the plant was yellow in colour. It has been 
said that the state of the plant with a colourless juice 
is less virulent in its nature. 
* Extract from the Report of a Commission consisting ©f 
MM. Gobley, Roussin, and Jungfleisch. 
