511 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[January ?, 1871. 
yet used it in business, nor tested it, so as to arrive 
at my conclusions as to its commercial value. 
“All imported opium is subject to a duty of KU. 
per lb.” 
This opium, when first received, was of a light 
brown colour, and in appearance like a well-made 
hard extract; but on keeping became like other 
opiums, much harder and darker ; when quite diy, it 
breaks with a smooth regular fracture. These cha¬ 
racters are explained by its being a pure dried juice. 
Its odour, which is very fine and marked, is similar 
to that of Smyrna opium, but scarcely so powerful. 
Cold water takes up 40 per cent, of soluble matter. 
A tincture made according to the Pharmacopoeia is 
of a very light colour, being no darker than the tinc¬ 
ture of myrrh. 
The most important character of this sample is its 
richness in morphia. On submitting it to quantita¬ 
tive analysis I obtained the following result:— 
Morphia.9 per cent. 
Narcotine.4 ,, ,, 
Meconic Acid.0 ,, „ 
I have not examined it for any other alkaloids, not 
1 laving a sufficient quantity of the sample to work 
on. I can only find one report of an analysis of this 
opium, namely, by Mr. Bosisto, of Richmond, who, 
in a paper read before the Royal Society at Mel¬ 
bourne, stated that it contained 10 per cent, of mor¬ 
phia and 3 of narcotine. 
By these characters, it will be seen that Gipps 
Land opium will compare favourably with the best 
Smyrna; and it cannot, I think, be doubted that its 
more extensive cultivation in this district would prove 
a source of large increase to the revenue of the co¬ 
lony, and, consequently, of great advantage to its in¬ 
habitants, while, at the same time, it will supply us 
with another new and important source of this valu¬ 
able drug. 
THE NAMES OF THE CINCHONA 
ALKALOIDS. 
BY DR. J. E. DE VRIJ. 
In No. 18, of October 29th, 1870, of this Journal, 
I found, on page 342, an article upon Java cinchona 
bark, abstracted from Herr Jobst’s paper in Neues 
Jahrbuch fiir Pharmacie, xxxiv. 18, which induces 
me to make a few remarks. 
If anybody not thoroughly acquainted with the 
•chemistry of the cinchona alkaloids, in reading this 
paper, compares the results obtained by Professor 
(funning and by Herr Jobst, he will very probably sup¬ 
pose that there exists much discrepancy between the 
results of these two chemists; as the one found (for 
instance) in Java Calisaya bark much quinidine, 
whilst the other found therein no quinidine, but con- 
chinine, etc. The cause of this apparent discrepancy 
is that Professor Gunning, like the majority of che¬ 
mists, calls the alkaloid discovered by Henry and 
Dclondre, and later admirably well described by 
Pasteur, quinidine ; whilst Herr Jobst uses for this 
alkaloid the name of conchinine, which name was 
given to it about two years ago by O. Hesse. If 
this chemist had discovered the alkaloid in question, 
I should have no objection to the name ; but as the 
name quinidine has, since it has been confirmed by 
the investigations of Pasteur, been accepted by the 
majority of chemists, and particularly by Mr. 
Howard in his celebrated ‘ Quinology,’ I consider it 
in the interest of this branch of science not to alter 
the name which it has now borne more than thirty 
years. In the same paper Herr Jobst uses the name 
of quinidine for what the majority of chemists, and 
also Mr. Howard in his ‘ Quinology,’ call cinclioni 
dine. I hope that the Editor of this Journal will 
agree with me on this topic, and for the convenience 
of the readers always use the names of quinidine 
and cinchonidine, as they have been used since 1K4S 
by Pasteur and the majority of chemists. 
The Hayae, December 10th, 1870. 
GLYCERINE EXTRACTS OF PEP3INE AND 
OTHER FERMENTS.* 
Mr. M. Foster reports, in Nature, the result of a 
repetition of some experiments, published a short 
time ago by Yon Yvittich in Pfliiyefs Archie, upon 
the isolation of pepsine and other so-called ferments 
by means of concentrated glycerine. 
After washing the mucous membrane of a pig’s 
stomach, it was freed as much as possible from water, 
minced, bruised, and covered with pure gRcerine. 
Having stood twenty-four hours, a few drops of the 
glycerine, diluted with acidulated water, digested 
fibrin rapidly. This process was repeated four 
times, each resulting extract manifesting strong 
peptic powers. Treated, after filtration, with an ex¬ 
cess of alcohol, these extracts gave a slight precipi¬ 
tate, which, separated by filtration and redissolved 
in acidulated water, was strongly peptic. 
Salivary gland and pancreas yielded to glycerine 
a starch-converting ferment, and a “ laden ” pancreas 
gave a ferment digesting fibrin in an alkaline me¬ 
dium. Ungerminated barley gave up a non-proteid 
diastase ; almonds a ferment acting on amygdalin. 
The author thinks that glycerine offers advan¬ 
tages in the investigation of this subject not pre¬ 
sented by any other medium, as the extracts remain 
unchanged for a long time, while the tissues, being 
little altered after exhaustion of then - ferment by re¬ 
peated treatment with glycerine, may be examined 
under conditions hitherto impossible. He claims 
that these results are also of practical value in the 
preparation of the so-called pepsin for medical pur¬ 
poses ; as by glycerine a pure palatable peptic liquid, 
apparently keeping any length of time and certain in 
its action, can easily be obtained. 
IODOFORM. 
BY J. HENRY CARSTENS, M.D. 
Teriodide of formyl, or sesqui-iodide of carbon as it 
was formerly called, has a chemical composition of 
CHI'}. It was discovered in the year 1822 by Serullas, 
who procured it by adding- chlorinated lime to an alco¬ 
holic solution of iodide of potassium. Claimed by Dumas 
to bo analogous to formic acid, the iodine taking the 
place of the oxygen (also chloroform and the like pre¬ 
parations) . 
A good method for making this compound is given by 
Wittstein. Two parts of carbonate of potash, two parts 
of iodine, one part of alcohol, and five of water, are 
mixed in a retort, which is then heated by means of a 
water-bath till the contents are perfectly colourless. 
After the retort has cooled, the liquid is poured into a 
beaker and allowed to settle. The yellow scaly mass is 
then collected on a filter, washed thoroughly with water, 
* See ante, p. 403. 
