•Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ") 
Feb.,  1882.  / 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica, 
75 
black.  On  dry  distillation  the  tannin  yields  catechol ;  strong  nitric 
acid  converts  it  into  oxalic  and  picric  acids,  and  by  fusion  with  potassa 
it  is  resolved  into  phloroglucol  and  protocatechuic  acid.  The  tannin 
contains  C  52-52,  H  5-11. 
QuebracMeateehin  (see  Am.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1879,  p.  152)  extracted 
by  ether  from  the  mother  liquor  from  which  quebrachitannin  has 
been  precipitated,  is  freely  soluble  in  alcohol  and  ether,  sparingly  sol- 
uble in  hot  water,  gives  rose-colored  precipitates  with  basic  lead  acetate 
and  with  mercurous  nitrate  ;  blackish  with  a  mixture  of  ferrous  sul- 
phate and  sodium  acetate ;  reduces  silver  nitrate  and  gold  chloride ;  is 
colored  yellow  by  nitric  acid,  red  by  sulphuric  acid,  yellowish  by 
sodium  hypochlorite,  green  by  Fehling's  solution ;  does  not  precipitate 
gelatin  or  the  alkaloids. — Joit7\  Chem.  Soc,  Dec,  1881,  1152,  from 
Anal.  Soc.  Cient.  Argent,  1879. 
New  Cinchona  Alkaloids. — An  alkaloid  has  recently  been  isolated 
from  cuprea  bark  by  B.  H.  Paul  and  A.  J.  Cownley,  W.  Geo.  Whiffen, 
and  D.  Howard  and  J.  Hodgkin,  the  papers  having  been  published  in 
"Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,''  Dec.  p.  17,  1881,  497,  and  Chem. 
News,"  Dec.  23,  p.  301.  The  alkaloid  resembles  quinine  in  the 
sparing  solubility  of  its  sulphate  in  water,  in  the  emerald  green  color 
produced  by  chlorine  water  and  ammonia,  in  the  fluorescence  of  its 
solution,  and  in  its  not  being  precipitated  by  the  cautious  addition  of 
potassium  iodide ;  but  differs  from  it  in  being  soluble  in  ether  only,, 
when  freshly  precipitated,  and  in  crystallizing  from  this  solution  in 
thin  plates  of  a  pearly  lustre.  The  cold  saturated  solution  of  its  sul- 
phate in  water  is  precipitated  by  Rochelle  salt  (like  quinidine  and  cin- 
chonidine). 
C.  H.  Wood  and  E.  L.  Barret  ("Chem.  News,''  Jan.  6,  1882)  have 
not  succeeded  in  getting  some  of  the  new  base  from  the  alkaloid  pro- 
ducts of  several  hundred  samples  of  cuprea  bark  ;  and  they  call  atten- 
tion to  a  peculiar  behavior  of  the  mixed  alkaloids,  quinine  and 
quinidine,  which  they  had  at  first  observed  with  the  products  of 
cuprea  bark,  this  bark  being  rich  in  quinidine.  The  etherial  solution 
of  the  total  alkaloids  would  frequently  furnish  a  notable  quantity  of 
crystals  that  did  not  resemble  those  of  any  of  the  known  cinchona 
alkaloids  obtained  under  like  circumstances.  The  previous  analysis 
not  having  revealed  the  presence  of  a  distinctive  base,  a  mixture  of 
two  grains  of  pure  (juinine  and  one  grain  of  pure  quinidine  was  dis- 
solved in  ether,  and  yic^lded  an  abundant  crop  of  the  same  crystals. 
