238 
Quebracho  Barh. 
j  Am.  Jour.  Phaim. 
1      May,  1881. 
Studie/^  Berlin:  J.  Springer),  by  which  it  has  been  made  possible  to 
distinguish  the  genuine  quebracho  bark  from  the  various  false  barks, 
which  have  long  enough  maintained  the  field  nearly  alone,  and  by 
the  procuration  and  pharmaceutical  application  of  the  genuine  drug, 
to  clear  the  path  for  rational  medical  experiences  and  judgment  in 
regard  to  this  novelty.  The  above-mentioned  essay,  which,  besides 
being  accompanied  by  several  explanatory  anatomical  tables,  contains 
also  a  series  of  further  pharmacologically  important  communications, 
and  is  deserving,  therefore,  of  special  consideration  in  pharmaceutical 
circles. 
In  the  following  the  most  important  deductions  from  Hansen's 
pamphlet  will  be  produced,  accompanied  by  some  special  notes  of  the 
author. 
In  regard  to  the  derivation  of  the  genuine  quebracho  bark,  it  is  sup- 
posed to  be  known  that  it  was  first,  in  the  course  of  the  year  1878, 
sent  by  a  resident  German  in  the  Argentine  Republic,  F.  Schickedanz, 
together  with  other  products  of  the  country,  to  Erlangen,  with  the 
observation  that  the  bark  had  served  for  a  long  time  in  those  districts, 
and  particularly  in  Tucuman  and  the  surrounding  country,  as  a  fever 
remedy,  and  in  many  instances  in  its  action  was  accorded  an  equal 
l^osition  with  cinchona  bark.  While  the  bark  sent  by  Schickedanz 
was  obtained  from  the  western  portion  of  the  Argentine  Republic, 
where  the  quebracho  tree  is  said  to  occur  chiefly  in  the  province  of 
Santiago  and  in  the  district  of  Catamarca,  it  appears,  according  to 
other  reports,  to  occur  also  in  neighboring  Chili,  and  may  possibly  be 
also  found  in  Bolivia  and  some  districts  of  southern  Brazil. 
The  above-mentioned  quantitatively  not  significant  export  was  sub- 
jected to  a  double  seizure,  as  simultaneously  a  chemical  examination 
of  the  drug  was  made  in  Munich,  and  a  series  of  therapeutical  experi- 
ments with  pharmaceutical  preparations  of  the  bark  performed  by  Dr. 
Penzoldt  in  Erlangen. 
The  result  of  the  chemical  examination  was  the  isolation  of  an  alka- 
loid, aspidospermia,  by  Fraude  (see  this  journal,  1879,  p.  192),  who, 
supported  by  the  composition  (032113(3^2^^2)  ^^^^  the  chemical  behavior  of 
this  new  vegetable  base,  proved  on  the  one  hand  its  close  relation  to 
quinia,  and  on  the  other  to  strychnia. 
The  medico-clinical  experiments,  without  indeed  confirming  a  decided 
anti-febrile  action,  led  to  the  discovery  of  its  beneficial  properties  in  diffi- 
culty of  respiration,  which  had  not  remained  unknown  in  the  native  coun- 
