18 
ON THE USE OF QUINOVIC ACID IN MEDICINE. 
almost without shade. It was 455 centimetres high, with a circumference at 
the base of G‘7 centimetres. It bore some fruit. 
No. 14. A thick branch from a still living tree growing in the open sunshine 
on the bad volcanic subsoil at Tjibodas, 4500 feet above the sea. The largest 
circumference of this branch was 16 ’5 centimetres. 
No. 15. A thick branch from a still living tree growing in the dense shade 
of the forest on the slope of the mountain Gede, 4700 feet above the sea. 
Although the discrepancy in the amount of alkaloids and quinovic acid is so 
great that it is quite impossible to derive any general conclusion, there are, never¬ 
theless, a few facts which deserve special attention. The result of the investi¬ 
gation of the bark of Cinchona Calisaya, marked No. 2, proves that when the 
bark of a tree grown in such a bad soil contains such an amount of alkaloids, 
this species will produce the best results in Java if properly managed. The 
result of the investigation of the bark of Cinchona lancifolia, No. 1 sub. B, is 
equally satisfactory. It is true that the amount of alkaloids in the stem-bark 
of Cinchona pahudiana is much smaller than that in the bark of any other 
species in Dutch and British India which I have examined; but I consider it 
nevertheless large enough to allow the admission that the bark of this tree 
will prove to be not without some value. The large amount of alkaloids in the 
roots of this species shown by the results of the bark noted No. 10, sub. C, also 
deserves attention, and if compared with the results of the bark noted No. 11, 
sub. C, it proves that the roots of this species produce quinine even in the 
first stage of their existence. There are some who condemn Cinchona pahu¬ 
diana because of the excessive thinness of its bark, which they consider too 
thin to be peeled. The exaggeration of this statement has been proved by 
Mr. M‘Ivor, who presented me with perfect peeled bark of plants of this 
species only eleven months old. This gentleman, whose skilful management 
of the cinchona cultivation on the Neilgherries I have so much admired, gave 
me the following statement upon this subject:—“ The Pahudiana, when culti¬ 
vated in the open sunshine , yields a bark of average thickness ; but when grown 
under dense shade , the bark is so thin that it cannot be removed from the 
stem.” I conclude by quoting with great sympathy the following words of 
Mr. Clements II. Markham “ There is much to be learnt which practice 
only can teach ; and it is surel}^ better for us all to recognize this fact, and 
not to allow such difference of opinion as we may feel respecting a prospect as 
yet uncertain to interfere with courteous communication of sentiment, and co¬ 
operation as far as possible.” 
The Hague , April 22nd, 1864. 
ON THE USE OF QUINOYIC ACID (CINCHONA BITTER) IN 
MEDICINE. 
BY DE. J. E. DE VEY. 
When I found, in 1859, that all parts of the different species of Cinchona 
growing in Java contained quinovic acid, of which I detected in the wood of 
the roots of C. Calisaya so much as 2’57 per cent., it appeared to me very 
probable that the tonic properties of some preparations of bark, particularly 
of an aqueous infusion, such as the Infusum Corticis JPeruviani cum Magnesia, 
'frigide paratum, which formerly was frequently prescribed by many Dutch 
physicians, might be at least partially ascribed to quinovic acid. I therefore 
* Pliarm; Journal, April, 1833, p. 441. 
