THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[October 14,1871. 
SOI 
1st. That the oil under examination must have 
been saponified by the processes employed. 
2nd. That the temperature used was such as must 
have produced many bye products by destructive 
distillation, and, among others, acetate of ammonia, 
the presence of which would sufficiently account for 
the reactions Mr. Hughes attributes to the presence 
of an alkaloid. 
3rd. That the action of lime, as an antidote, is not 
due to its decomposing an alkaloid, but to its form¬ 
ing an insoluble soaxi with the poisonous oil; and 
Mr. Skey still adheres to his opinion, that dilute 
acids should he administered in cases of poisoning 
by tutu. 
4tli. That the dyeing properties of the juice of the 
tutu plant are due solely to the abundance of tannin 
they contain, and are not analogous to the special 
dye principle of logwood (luematoxyline), for which 
reason he does not think that it can be used for dye¬ 
ing any shade to which tan bark is not equally 
applicable. 
Mr. Skey’s views are explained in a paper, which 
must be deferred for future publication.—E d. Tuans. 
N. Zeal. Inst.] 
for JShfotitto. 
CHEMICAL NOTES TO THE PHARMACOPOEIA. 
BY WILLIAM A. TILDEN, D.SC. LOND. 
DEMONSTRATOR OP PRACTICAL CHEMISTRY TO THE 
PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
Plumb i Oxidum, PbO.—Out of the several exist¬ 
ing compounds of lead and oxygen, this is the only 
one which exhibits a well-marked basic character; 
that is, which readily neutralizes acids, producing 
water and crystallizable salts as the result of the 
reaction. 
Litharge, the ordinary form of plumbic oxide, is 
prepared by exposing melted lead to the oxidizing 
action of a current of air at a temperature at which 
the oxide melts. 
[§ In heavy scales of a pale brick-red colour, com¬ 
pletely soluble without effervescence in diluted nitric 
and acetic acids.] It rarely contains more than 
traces of impurities, chiefly the oxides of other me¬ 
tals, and a small quantity of red-lead, to which the 
colour is chiefly due. Plumbic oxide is slightly solu¬ 
ble in water, and is in any form strongly alkaline to 
test paper, and absorbs carbonic acid gas from the 
air. (See Liq. Plumbi Subacet.) It is easily fusible, 
and in that state rapidly dissolves silica: a mixture 
of lead-silicates constitutes flint-glass. The remain¬ 
ing oxides of lead are—1, an imperfectly known sub- 
exide, Pb 2 0; 2, brown plumbic peroxide, Pb 0 2 , left 
when red-lead is treated with nitric acid ; 3, red-lead 
or minium, which is a compound of plumbic oxide 
and peroxide, usually having the formula, 2PbO, 
Pb0 2 or Pb 3 0 4 . 
Potassa Caustica. — [§ Hydrate of potash con¬ 
taining some impurities.]—Obtained by boiling 
down liquor potassse in an iron dish. It is liable to 
the same contaminations as the solution from which 
it is made. Being very deliquescent, it must be kept 
in well-closed bottles. 
Potassa Sulphurata. —This compound is prepared 
by melting together carbonate of potassium and sul¬ 
phur, continuing a moderate heat until effervescence 
is over. 
3 K 2 C 0 3 -f I So = Iv 2 S 2 O s + 2 K 2 S 3 -f 3 C 0 2 . 
Hyposulphite. Sulphide. 
[Watts, Pharm. Journ. Nov. 10, 1870.] 
[§ Solid greenish fragments, liver-brown when 
recently broken. About three-fourths of its weight 
are dissolved by rectified spirit.] 
The Pharmacopoeia orders rather a larger propor¬ 
tion of carbonate of potassium than is required to 
satisfy the equation given above. The hyposulphite 
of potassium, when heated too strongly, decomposes 
into sulphate and pentasulphide. 
4K 2 S 2 0 3 = 3K 2 S0 4 4- K 2 S 5 . 
In addition to the two main constituents, hypo¬ 
sulphite and trisulphide, there may, therefore, be 
present carbonate, sulphite and pentasulphide of po¬ 
tassium. 
This compound is decomposed by hydrochloric 
acid with evolution of sulphuretted hydrogen and 
deposition of sulphur. 
Potass^ Aoetas, KC 2 H 3 0 2 . Carbonate of potas¬ 
sium is dissolved in a slight excess of acetic acid, 
and the solution having been evaporated to dryness, 
the salt is melted by the very cautious application 
of heat. The solution must be distinctly acid, and 
the salt barely fused, with least possible exposure to 
air, or the product will not be white. 
[§ White foliaceous satiny masses very deliques¬ 
cent, with a watery solution of 'which tartaric acid 
causes a crystalline precipitate (I(HC 4 H 4 0 6 ), sul¬ 
phuric acid the disengagement of acetic acid, and a 
dilute solution of perchloride of iron strikes a deep 
red colour (ferric acetate, Fe 2 G CuH 3 0 2 ). Neutral 
to test paper, entirely soluble in rectified spirit.] 
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN BENGAL. 
The following Report from C. B. Clarke, Esq., M.A., 
Officiating Superintendent, Botanical Gardens, and in 
charge of Cinchona Cultivation in Bengal, to the Secre¬ 
tary ,to the Government of Bengal—(No. 269, dated 
Botanical Gardens, Calcutta, the 26th April, 1871),— 
has been received:— 
Sir,'—I beg leave to submit the annual report of the 
cinchona plantations near Darjeeling for the year ended 
31st March, 1871, in which is included also the half- 
yearly report for the six months ended 31st March, 
1871. 
The cinchona plantations have lost, by early death, 
Dr. T. Anderson, who introduced the cultivation into 
Bengal, and under whose superintendence the present 
successful growing of cinchona has been brought about. 
In the opinion of his medical advisers, the unsparing 
zeal with which Dr. T. Anderson exposed himself per¬ 
sonally in the steaming valleys of Sikkim cost him his 
life. 
Dr. T. Anderson commenced the propagation of cin¬ 
chona plants in Sikkim in 1862, but for several years 
little progress w r as made. Sinchul, Lebong, Upper 
Rungbee, and Rungyroong, were localities successively 
tided and found successively not well suited to the cul¬ 
ture. The young stock was very unhealthy, and Mr. 
Mann informs me he then had to throw away young 
plants by thousands. Dr. T. Anderson also received, 
privately, the opinion of a very high authority, that 
cinchona could never be profitably grown in Sikkim. 
Dr. T. Anderson, undaunted by these discouragements, 
and by the still more disheartening doubts wRich some 
of his best gardeners felt, applied himself steadily to 
