48  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  {^A^xm*' 
demand  for  pice-packets,  and  937  pounds  issued  on  account  of  the 
Chitral  expedition.  Of  cinchona  febrifuge  there  were  issued  during 
the  year  3,830  pounds,  554  pounds  more  than  in  the  previous  year, 
the  amount  purchased  by  the  public  having  increased  by  194 
pounds,  showing  that  the  preparation  is  held  in  high  estimation  by 
the  public  as  a  cheap  and  reliable  remedy  for  fever,  notwithstanding 
that  cinchonidine  and  cinchonine  can  be  purchased  at  a  cheaper  rate 
in  the  Calcutta  bazaar.  The  febrifuge  is  an  unbleached  quinetum, 
and  represents  the  total  alkaloids  in  the  bark. 
The  net  profit  on  the  year's  operations  amounted  to  Rs.  4,598,  a 
sum  which  Dr.  King  says  would  form  but  a  small  dividend  on  the 
capital  which  has  been  sunk  in  these  plantations  since  they  were 
first  begun.  There  has  not  been  for  many  years,  however,  any 
capital  to  pay  interest  upon,  as  the  cost  of  the  plantations  was 
extinguished  long  ago  by  profits  made  during  the  early  years  of 
the  manufacture  of  cinchona  febrifuge.  As  the  Government  of 
India  desires  only  to  secure  for  the  people,  without  loss  to  itself,  a 
cheap  remedy  for  fever,  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Bengal  con- 
siders this  result  entirely  satisfactory.  The  demand  for  quinine  in 
the  popular  5-grain  powders  has  increased  with  such  rapidity  that  it 
has  been  found  necessary  to  limit  the  sale  to  post-offices  in  Bengal 
and  Assam,  and  to  discontinue  the  regular  supply  to  other  prov- 
inces. 
The  acknowledgments  of  Government  are  again  accorded  to 
Dr.  King  and  to  Mr.  G.  Gammie,  the  Deputy  Superintendent,  for 
their  efficient  management  of  the  department  during  the  year. 
RECENT  LITERATURE  RELATING  TO  PHARMACY. 
iodine  manufacture  in  japan.  {Chemist  and  Druggist, 
October  24.,  6 op.) 
It  is  well  known  that  enormous  quantities  of  seaweed  containing 
iodine  are  gathered  along  the  coasts  of  Japan,  and  were  it  not  for 
the  fact  that  the  manufacture  of  iodine  from  kelp  is  scarcely  profita- 
ble in  view  of  the  competition  of  the  Chilian  product,  Japan  would 
no  doubt  be  one  of  the  principal  iodine-producing  countries.  In 
fact,  even  under  the  present  circumstances,  Japanese  iodine  and 
iodides  find  a  market  locally,  and  have  even  been  seen  in  Eu- 
rope in  commercial  quantities.    A  proposal  has  now  been  made 
