]68 
CINCHONA PITAYA OR PITAYA BARK. 
As it appeared desirable to have an authentic specimen of oil of 
origanum for comparison, a quantity of the herb was procured and 
distilled with water in the ordinary way. The plant, which was 
chiefly collected in the neighborhood of Sheerness, was quite fresh, 
and very fully in flower when submitted to distillation. It afforded 
an exceedingly small amount of yellow oil, seventy pounds pro- 
ducing scarcely an ounce. This small produce may in part be 
attributed to the coolness and humidity of the weather for some 
time before the plant was collected, as it is evident from the fol- 
lowing passage in Brande's Dictionary of Materia Medica, that 
a much larger amount of oil is usually obtained. This author 
states, " the average produce of essential oil from this herb [ori- 
ganum] is one pound from two hundred weight; but it varies 
exceedingly with the season and culture of the plant." 
Contrasted with oil of thyme, oil of origanum is distinguished 
by the following characters : — 
L Odor, which is somewhat analogous to that of oil of pepper- 
mint, and entirely dissimilar from that of oil of thyme. 
2. Color, which in oil of origanum is bright yellow, while the 
ordinary kind of oil of thyme is of a more or less deep reddish- 
brown. 
The specific gravity of the two oils is so nearly alike, as to 
afford no distinctive criterion. That of oil of origanum is .8854, 
of oil of thyme (average of three samples) .8934, at 62° Fahr. — 
Lond. Pharm. Journ., Jan., 1851. 
REMARKS UPON THE CINCHONA PITAYA OR PITAYA BARK. 
By B. W Bull. 
Some years since, a sample of bark came under the observation 
of the writer, which corresponds in its physical characteristics 
with the description of a bark under the head of False Cin- 
chonas, in the United States Dispensatory under the above name. 
Dr. Pereira, in his Materia Medica, and Guibourt, mention the 
same bark under slightly different names, and all agree in attri- 
buting to it the so-called alkaloid Pitaya, said to have been dis- 
