176 
Quinia  fro/ii  Coal  Ta7\ 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I      April,  1881. 
New  Drop  Attachment  for  Bottles.— The  engraving  shows  a 
simple  device  for  delivering  liquids 
from  bottles  in  drops  as  slowly  or 
rapidly  as  may  be  desired.  It  con- 
sists of  a  tube  inserted  in  the  stopper 
and  provided  with  a  flexible  air 
bulb  for  blowing  air  into  the  bottle, 
and  another  tube  inserted  in  the 
stopper  through  which  the  liquid 
escapes.  By  pressing  upon  the  rub- 
ber bulb  with  more  or  less  force  the 
liquid  is  made  to  escape  with  more 
or  less  rapidity. 
This  device  will  be  found  particu- 
larly advantageous  in  dropping  me- 
dicineSj  and  it  may  in  many  instan- 
ces replace  the  pipette  used  by  chem- 
ists. This  invention  was  recently 
patented  by  Mr.  Raoul  Bravais,  of 
Pari s,  Fran ce.  — Scien  tific  A mericany 
March  5,  1881. 
Quinia  from  Coal  Tar. — The  New  York  "  Commercial  Bulletin'' 
notices  a  report  current  in  that  city,  that  a  Liberty  street  firm  had 
applied  for  a  patent  for  a  process  to  manufacture  quinia  from  coal  tar. 
It  is  stated  that  the  firm  has  been  interested  with  a  chemist  to  accom- 
plish this  result  for  several  years,  and  that  the  efforts  have  been  crowned 
with  success.  In  the  ''Chemical  Notes"  published  in  this  journal 
during  the  past  year,  the  readers  have  been  kept  informed  of  the  results 
obtained  by  Skraup,  Koenigs,  Hesse  and  others,  in  their  endeavor  to  de- 
termine the  exact  composition  of  the  cinchona  alkaloids,  which,  when 
once  known,  will  doubtless  lead  to  their  synthetical  production.  Whe- 
ther such  a  result  is  so  near  being  accomplished  as  the  rumor  mentioned 
above  indicates,  remains  to  be  seen.  But  of  the  importance  of  the 
synthetical  production  of  quinia  there  can  be  no  doubt,  when  it  is 
remembered  that  in  1879  $2,000,000  w^orth  of  cinchona  bark  was  im- 
ported, most  of  which  has,  doubtless,  been  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
this  indispensible  alkaloid.  J.  M.  M. 
Chian  Turpentine  is  derived  from  Pistacia  terebinthus,  Xm., 
the  terminthos  and  terebinthos  of  ancient  authors,  and  at  present  called 
Bravais'  Drop  Attachment  for 
Bottles. 
