406 
Quinine  Testing. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\      August,  1887. 
sulphate  was  ascertained  with  a  salt  that  contained  cinchonidine,  and 
contained  at  least  several  per  cent.  It  is,  however,  now  known  that 
cinchonidine  acts  in  the  same  manner  as  quinine,  if  only  with  one- 
fourth  the  potency.  If  this  relation  be  considered,  it  must  also  be 
admitted  that  a  diminution  of  the  therapeutic  value  of  quinine  sul- 
phate, due  to  the  presence  of  a  few  hundredths  of  cinchonidine  sul- 
phate, could  not  be  appreciably  expressed  in  figures  at  alL  Conse- 
quently, in  the  case  now  under  consideration,  it  is  not  with  therapeutic 
value  that  we  have  to  do,  but  it  is  only  the  pecuniary  question  that 
has  perhaps  to  be  taken  into  account. 
This  latter  consideration,  combined  with  the  circumstance  that 
formerly  cinchonidine  was  not  separated  from  quinine  at  all,  was,  in 
fact,  the  reason  for  De  Vrij's  suggestion  that  the  two  alkaloids  should 
not  be  separated,  and,  indeed,  that  none  of  the  cinchona  alkaloids 
should  be  thus  separated.  As  is  well  known,  this  opinion  led  to  the 
discovery  of  "  quinetuin."  It  is  true  De  Vrij  defined  the  idea  of 
quinetum  as  representing  a  constant  mixture  of  the  alkaloids  obtain- 
able from  the  bark  of  Cinchona  succirubra  that  would  always  give  a 
rotation  equal  to  (a)j  =  —  38°,  though  in  reality  it  is  a"misch- 
masch "  of  alkaloids,  such  as  the  bark  may  happen  to  furnish,  and 
though  it  is  Isevogyre,  it  is  not  uniformly  so.  Besides  this,  the  com- 
pound of  part  of  such  a  "  misch-masch  "  of  alkaloids  with  sulphuric 
acid  is  prepared  and  brought  into  the  market  as  "quinetum  sul- 
phuricuni."  While  quinetum  itself  is  a  yellow  or  yellowish-white 
powder,  quinetum  sulphuricum  is  in  the  form  of  delicate  white 
needles,  and  by  reason  of  its  great  resemblance  to  quinine  sulphate,  it 
is  well  adapted  for  the  adulteration  of  that  article.  This  is  the 
preparation  that  De  Vrij  on  another  occasion,  in  1877,  proposed 
should  replace  quinine.  It  is  true  that  this  proposed  substitution 
was,  as  it  appears,  to  apply  only  to  the  case  of  half-civilized  people. 
To  judge  from  the  remarks  made  by  Vulpius  in  reference  to  this 
preparation,  it  may  be  inferred  that  he  is  not  acquainted  with  its 
nature,  and,  therefore,  I  will  give  here  the  results  of  some  analyses 
of  it: 
Quinetum.  : 
Per  cent. 
1875. 
Hesse. 
1879. 
Oudemans.. 
Per  cent. 
Quinine  
Cinchonidine 
Cinchonine  .. 
1496 
35-29 
21-08 
6-1 
22-9 
37-0 
