548 
Assaying  of  Cinchona  Alkaloids. 
f  Am.  Jour.  JMiarnj- 
t      Nov.,  1882. 
Why  the  earlier  writers  should  have  adopted  the  name  of  oxygen- 
ated oil  for  it  is  hard  to  be  explained,  but  that  it  was  already  at  that 
time  used  with  good  effect  in  parasitic  skin  diseases  seems  to  bear  out 
what  I  had  claimed  for  it. 
I  would  add  to  what  I  had  already  said  in  my  paper  on  the  chlorina- 
tion  of  fat  oils,  that  for  practical  purposes  it  can  be  much  easier  and 
much  more  rapidly  prepared  by  the  direct  contact  between  the  oil  and 
the  chlorine  generating  mixture.  The  rapidity  with  which  the  chlo- 
rine is  taken  up  .by  the  oil  leaves  none  to  be  detected  in  excess  until 
the  saturating  point  has  been  reached.  I  employ  for  this  purpose  a 
flask  of  ample  capacity,  and  introduce  a  sufficient  quantity  of  mangan- 
ese peroxide  with  hydrochloric  acid.  After  stirring  I  add  the  oil  and 
place, the  whole  in  a  water-bath,  warming  until  active  ebullition  takes 
place.  When  vapors  of  free  chlorine  gas  become  evident,  the  process 
is  finished.  The  oil  is  then  allowed  to  separate,  and  is  dissolved  from 
the  mass  by  benzin,  which,  on  filtering  and  evaporating,  leaves  a  chlo- 
rinated oil,  saturated  and  of  the  description  given  by  me  previously. 
October,  1882. 
AN  EASY  METHOD  FOR  ASSAYING  THE  CINCHONA 
ALKALOIDS. 
By  R.  F.  Fairthorne,  Ph.G. 
Dr.  J.  E.  De  Vrij  has  written  very  favorably  of  a  process  for  deter- 
mining the  amount  of  alkaloids  in  cinchona,  which  depends  chiefly 
upon  the  facts  that  they  are  dissolved  out  by  means  of  a  mixture  con- 
sisting of  ether,  88  parts;  solution  of  ammonia,  4  parts;  and  alcohol, 
8  parts.  After  maceration  and  separation  the  solution  is  evaporated 
to  dryness  leaving  the  crude  alkaloids,  which  are  purified  by  solution 
in  acidulated  water,  filtration  and  precipitation  by  means  of  an  alkali 
and  resolution  in  chloroform,  which  upon  evaporation  leaves  the  alka- 
loids pure. 
It  occurred  to  me  that  as  the  alkaloids  are  solul)le  in  chloroform^ 
that  the  following  process  would  yield  good  results  with  less  trouble 
and  expense,  and  after  having  tried  it  I  find  by  comparing  it  with 
Dr.  De  Vrij's  that  as  good  a  yield  of  the  alkaloids  is  obtained.  Two 
portions  of  the  powdered  bark  taken  from  the  same  package  were 
operated  on  by  the  two  processes  and  with  identical  results.  By  my 
method  400  grains  of  calisaya  bark  in  moderately  fine  j)owder  were 
boiled  for  ten  minutes  with  5  fluidounces  of  water  acidulated  with  | 
/ 
