CHEMICAL  COMPOSITION  OF  QUINIDINE. 
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that  of  the  new  compound,  dried  at  68°  F.,  being  C24  H17  X4  O21, 
HO ;  and  that  of  the  same,  dried  at  212°  F.,  C24  H17  X4  O81. 
I  have  already  commenced  some  experiments  on  the  nitrated  pro- 
ducts insoluble  in  water  which  results  from  the  action  of  the  nitro- 
sulphuric  mixture  on  glucose,  dextrine,  gum,  &c. — Comptes  Ren- 
dus,  Oct.  4,  1852,  p.  473,  from  Chemical  Gazette,  Nov.  15  1852. 
ON  THE  CHEMICAL  COMPOSITION  OF  QUINIDINE. 
By  H.  G.  Leers. 
Quinidine,  discovered  several  years  ago  by  Dr.  "Winckler,  in 
a  bark  resembling  Huamalies  cinchona,  and  also  in  Maracaibo 
cinchona,  has  never  yet  been  subjected  to  an  accurate  analysis,  al- 
though this  base  appears  to  be  daily  acquiring  a  greater  impor- 
tance in  relation  to  quinine. 
In  consequence  of  the  government  of  Bolivia  having  monopo- 
lized the  exportation,  and  by  this  means  raised  the  price 
of  Calisaya  cinchona,  (the  principal  material  for  the  manufacture 
of  quinine,)  a  cheaper  bark  is  now  imported  under  the  name  of 
Bogota  cinchona,*  which  contains  chiefly  quinidine,  and  but  a 
small  proportion  of  quinine.f 
From  this  Bogota  cinchona,  large  quantities  of  quinidine  are 
now  prepared  for  admixture  with  quinine.  The  proportion  of 
alkaloids  in  this  bark  was,  in  two  experiments,  2.61  and  2.66  per 
cent.  It  appeared,  therefore,  of  great  interest,  to  obtain  a  more 
exact  knowledge  of  the  chemical  relations  of  this  substance, 
which,  in  the  crude  state  in  which  the  author  received  it  from  Mr. 
Zimmer,  was  beautifully  white  and  distinctly  crystallized,  but 
still  not  perfectly  pure.    It  contained  an  uncrystallizable,  yellow- 
[*  The  bark  here  called  Bogota  cinchona  is  usually  known  in  England 
as  a  Carthagena  bark ;  and  to  distinguish  it  from  the  common  hard  Car- 
thagena  bark,  it  is  sometimes  called  jibrous  Carthagena  bark.  Coquettabark 
is  one  sort  of  this  bark. — Ed.  Pharm.  Journ.~^ 
fin  order  to  ascertain  whether  Bogota  cinchona,  like  other  cinchona 
barks,  contained  kinic  acid,  some  finely  powdered  Bogota  bark  was  boiled 
with  hydrate  of  lime,  and  the  obtained  kinate  of  lime  submitted,  along 
with  peroxide  of  manganese  and  sulphuric  acid,  to  distillation,  by  which 
was  obtained  a  liquid  containing  kinone. 
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