EDITORIAL  PEREIRA's  MATERIA  MEDICA. 
185 
Jaen.  7.  Cortex  Cinchonae  de  Loxa.  8.  Cortex  Cinchonae  Rubrae.  9.  Cortex 
Cinchonae  Condamineae  Pitayensis.  10.  Cortex  Cinchonae  Lancifolia.  11. 
Cortex  Cinchonae  Durse  de  Carthagene.    12.  Cortex  Cinchonas  de  Maracaibo. 
The  four  last  named  are  the  barks  of  New  Granada,  and  the  9th  and 
10th  are  respectively  the  pitaya  and  coquetta,  so  much  in  vogue  as  substitutes 
for  Bolivian  bark  in  the  manufacture  of  quinine.  The  pitaya  bark  brought 
to  the  United  States,  varies  considerably  in  character  and  value,  but  two 
distinct  varieties  are  distinguished  as  hard  and  soft  pitaya.  They  are 
generally  collected  in  the  neighborhood  of  Popayan,  and  come  via  Honda 
and  the  Magdalena  river,  to  the  coast.  The  former  is  the  "  Pitaya  Conda- 
minea  bark "  of  Pereira,  and  as  usually  seen  is  much  broken  up,  appa- 
rently with  the  view  of  facilitating  the  packing.    Our  author  remarks : 
"This  bark  is  rich  in  alkaloids  and  serves  for  the  manufacture  of  di-sulphate 
of  quinine.  It  contains  cinchonine  quinidine  and  quinine.  From  one  kilo- 
gramme (or  1.000  grammes)  of  this  bark,  M.  Guibourt  obtained  23  grammes 
of  crystallized  cinchonine  and  11|  grammes  of  the  sulphate  of  quinine;  show, 
ing  that  it  is  one  of  the  richest  cinchona  barks."  "  If  the  observations  of 
Mr.  Howard  and  myself  as  to  the  identity  of  Guibourt's  brownCarthagena  bark, 
and  the  Pitaya  Carthagena  bark:  be  correct,  it  follows  that  this  is  the  bark 
which  Pelletier  and  Caventou  analyzed  under  the  name  of  Quinquina  Car- 
thagena, and  which  they  found  to  contain  both  quinine  and  cinchoninej  and 
to  be  perfectly  analogous  in  composition  to  red  bark." 
u  Chemical  analysis  proves  that,  in  a  medical  point  of  view,  the  Pitaya 
Condaminea  bark  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  cinchona  barks." 
Many  specimens  of  this  variety  have  yielded  more  favorable  results  than 
those  of  Guibourt,  as  regards  the  quinia  salt,  to  Mr.  William  Weightman  of 
Philadelphia. 
In  reference  to  the  Lancifolia  bark  of  Bogota,  Dr.  Pereira  observes : 
lt  Within  the  last  few  years  it  has  again  been  introduced  into  commerce 
by'M.  Lopez  of  Bogota,  as  a  source  of  quinine,  under  the  name  of  Coquetta 
(Caquetai)  bark,  and  the  high  price  of  Calisaya  has  induced  manufacturers 
to  employ  Coquetta  bark  in  the  manufacture  of  the  di-sulphate  quinine." 
This  bark  under  the  names  of  Fusugasuya  and  Coqueta  bark  has  also 
been  employed  in  Philadelphia  as  a  source  of  quinine.  Dr.  Pereira  gives  a 
series  of  results  with  this  bark  made  by  Howard  &  Hindsley,  in  which  it  is 
made  to  yield  from  32  to  112  grains  of  crystallized  sulphate  of  quinia  per 
lb.  of  7,000  grains.  As  a  general  rule  the  results  on  a  large  scale  are  more 
favorable  than  in  test  experiments,  yet  various  specimens  of  it  have  yielded 
in  experimental  trials  made  in  Philadelphia  63,  91,  112,  119,  and  133 
grains  of  sulphate  of  quinia,  per  lb.  of  7000  grains. 
Dr.  Pereira  has  very  thoroughly  illustrated  the  chemistry  of  Cinchona. 
He  adopts  the  view  that  the  ordinary  sulphates  of  quinia  and  cinchona  are 
neutral  salts,  and  not  dU'-salts,  as  usually  considered,  thus  making  the 
soluble  sulphates,  &i-sulphates  ;  and  adopts  Laurent's  formulae,  viz.,  C3g 
H22  N2  04  for  quinia,  and  C38  H22  N2  02  for  cinchona.  For  Quinidinia  he 
takes  Leer's  numbers,  C36  H22  N2  02.  Dr.  Pereira  makes  no  allusion  to 
the  beautiful  salt  of  Herapath,  the  iodo-sulphate  of  quinia,  nor  to  its 
