430  ON  A  NEW  SOURCE  OF  AMMONIA. 
them  to  India,  where  there  is  good  reason  to  hope  their  acclima- 
tization will  be  as  successful  as  it  has  already  been  in  Java. 
We  are  glad  to  hear  that  Mr.  Markham  is  well  acquainted  with 
the  Cinchona  districts,  and  has  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
Spanish  language.  Such  qualifications,  when  accompanied  by 
good  botanical  acquirements,  can  scarcely  fail  to  achieve  suc- 
cess in  so  important  an  undertaking,  and  we  sincerely  trust  that 
all  who  are  in  any  position  to  assist  Mr.  Markham  will  do  so 
cheerfully,  and  then  we  have  little  doubt  the  experiment  will  be 
entirely  successful. 
We  take  this  opportunity  of  correcting  an  error  which  many 
Pharmaceutical  Chemists  and  others  have  fallen  into,  with 
reference  to  the  supposed  discovery  of  a  species  of  Cinchona  in 
Africa  by  Dr.  Livingstone.  The  plant  thus  thought  to  be  a 
Cinchona  is  a  species  of  Malouetia,  Nat.  Ord.  Apocynacece, 
This  plant,  like  several  others  of  the  order  to  which  it  belongs, 
possesses  febrifugal  properties,  but  it  contains  no  quinine  or 
other  alkaloid  resembling  it,  as  supposed  by  Livingstone  
Pharm.  Journ.,  London,  July  1,  1859. 
ON  A  NEW  SOURCE  OF  AMMONIA. 
Mr.  Alexander  Williams,  of  Neath,  in  a  letter  to  the  Joural 
of  the  Society  of  Arts,  has  suggested  a  means  of  economizing 
the  waste  nitrogen  products  escaping  from  the  oil  of  vitriol 
chamber,  by  effecting  their  conversion  into  ammonia.  This  is 
done  by  passing  the  escaping  gasses,  mixed  with  steam,  over 
heated  charcoal,  and  then  into  dilute  sulphuric  acid,  by  which 
sulphate  of  ammonia  is  obtained. 
The  following  is  Mr.  Williams's  description  of  the  arrange- 
ment he  employs,  and  which  has  been  tried  on  a  large  scale  at 
the  Pontardawe  Vitriol  Works. 
The  apparatus  fitted  up  was  of  the  following  description  : — 
A  furnace  was  built  above  the  exit  tube  of  one  of  tl  eir  vitriol 
chambers,  and  a  brick  gas  retort,  about  14  inches  in  diameter, 
8  feet  long,  and  open  at  both  ends,  was  passed  through  its  whole 
length.  This  retort  was  filled  with  charcoal,  and  kept  at  a  red 
heat ;  the  exit  tube  of  the  chamber,  and  a  steam-jet  to  supply 
