Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  | 
Feb.,  1881.  J 
Georgia  Bark. 
81 
Manufacture  of  ftuinia  in  the  United  States.— An  article  in 
the  New  York  "Times"  of  January  13,  which  has  evidently  been 
written  by  one  well  informed  on  the  subject,  refers  to  the  })riee  of 
quinia  which  last  year  averaged  $2.90,  the  maximum  figure  being 
$3.25,  the  minimum  $2.50.  This  is  about  equal  to  the  quotations 
between  1873  and  1876,  previous  to  the  removal  of  duty  from  quinia. 
All  articles  essential  for  the  manufacture  of  quinia  are  taxed,  such  as 
soda,  fusel  oil,  alcohol ;  by  our  navigation  laws,  the  valuable  barks  from 
the  East  Indian  plantations  are  diverted  to  Europe,  a  discriminating 
duty  of  10  per  cent,  being  imposed  upon  them  here.  American  manu- 
facturers are  thus  compelled  to  use  barks  very  poor  in  quinia,  but 
richer  in  cinchonidia,  which  latter  alkaloid  is  protected  by  a  duty  of  40 
per  cent.^  Prior  to  1879,  about  900,000  ounces  of  quinia  sulphate  was 
manufactured  in  the  United  States ;  last  year  it  was  not  over  500,000 
ounces.  The  largest  quinia  manufactory  is  stated  to  be  at  Milan,  Italy^ 
carried  on  by  a  joint  stock  company,  which  supplies  under  contract 
East  India  and  Russia,  and  produces  annually  about  1 ,200,000  ounces 
or  about  one-third  of  the  entire  consumption  of  the  world.     J.  M.  M. 
Georgia  Bark. — In  an  article  of  the  New  York  "  Times"  referred 
to  elsewhere  (see  above)  the  importance  of  making  systematie 
experiments  for  cultivating  different  species  of  cinchona  in  the  United 
States  is  discussed,  and  it  is  stated  that  there  exists  a  "  pseudo-cinchona"^ 
tree  in  Georgia.  The  tree  alluded  to  is  undoubtedly  the  one  called 
Georgia  bark "  in  Porcher's  Resources  of  the  Southern  Fields  and 
Forests.  This  is  the  Pinckneya  pubens  of  Michaux,  ord.  Pubiacese^ 
subord.  Cinchonse  which  is  found  on  riverbanks  and  in  swampy  loca- 
tions from  South  Carolina  southward  to  Florida.  Under  cultivation 
it  usually  branches  from  the  base,  but  in  its  native  localities  it  is  a  beau- 
tiful tree  20  feet  or  more  in  height,  with  large  opposite  ovate  and  acute 
leaves  and  with  downy  cymes  of  purple-colored  flowers,  which  are 
radiant  by  the  expansion  of  a  calyx  segment  of  the  marginal  flowers. 
Michaux  reported  the  bark  to  be  useful  in  intermittent  fever,  and 
more  recently,  Dr.  Law,  of  Georgia,  and  Dr.  Fauntleroi,  of  Virginia, 
corroborated  this  statement.  The  latter  considers  it  too  slow  in  its 
action  to  be  used  as  a  substitute  for  quinia,  but  as  deserving  a  position 
in  the  front  ranks  of  vegetable  tonics ;  it  usually  produces  diajjhoresis. 
The  bark  is  given  in  the  form  of  powder  or  of  decoction  in  the  dose 
of  about  one  drachm.  Dr.  Farr  is  said  to  have  detected  a  considerable 
amount  of  cinchonia  in  it,  which  statement  is,  probably,  not  correct, 
6 
