Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
August,  1887.  J 
Quinine  Jesting. 
407 
1875. 
Hesse. 
1879. 
Oudemans. 
Per  cent. 
Per  cent. 
Quinamine  
Amorphous  alkaloid 
Sodium  carbonate.... 
Sulphuric  acid  
Water  
trace 
21-06 
4*5 
21-2 
2'9 
1-21 
6-01 
Quinetum  Sulphuricum  : 
Quinine  sulphate  
Cinch onidine  sulphate 
Cinchonine 
1875. 
Hesse. 
Per  cent, 
14*14 
62-92 
22-94 
1876. 
Hesse. 
Per  cent. 
11-91 
61-17 
26-92 
In  another  sample  of  quinetum,  Oudemans  found  only  1*1  per  cent, 
quinamine,  but  0*3  per  cent,  quinidamine  and  0'5  per  cent,  quinidine. 
From  the  foregoing  remarks  it  will  be  seen  that  quinine,  which 
chiefly  determines  the  medicinal  value  of  cinchona  bark,  is  present  in 
the  preparation  called  quinetum  only  in  small  amount,  and  that  the 
quinetum  sulphuricum  which  was  represented  as  being  directly  com- 
parable with  quinine  sulphate  contains  no  less  than  about  87  per  cent, 
of  the  associated  alkaloids,  and  among  them  about  63  per  cent,  of 
cinchonidine  sulphate.  Closely  approximating  in  character  to  this 
latter  preparation  is  the  quinine  sulphate  the  English  government 
prepared  in  their  factories  in  India,  containing,  according  to  the  data 
published  by  Hooper,  40*88  cinchonidine  sulphate  and  59*12  quinine 
sulphate ;  or,  as  Hooper  calculates,  37*55  cinchonidine  sulphate  and 
62*45  quinine  sulphate.    All  this  meets  with  approval  from  De  Vrij. 
It  is  therefore  inexplicable  to  find  De  Vrij  contending  that  quinine 
sulphate  is  depreciated  in  its  therapeutic  value  by  the  presence  of  a 
small  percentage  of  cinchonidine  sulphate,  and  that  for  this  reason  it 
must  be  prepared  absolutely  free  from  cinchonidine.  In  any  case, 
such  an  assertion  by  De  Vrij  is  unjustifiable  so  long  as  he  continues 
to  maintain  the  opposite  view  as  to  the  above-mentioned  preparations 
and  warmly  advocates  their  use. 
I  completely  agree  with  Vulpius  in  the  opinion  that  a  preparation 
sent  out  as  quinine  sulphate,  and  to  be  used  as  such,  ought  to  contain 
only  a  moderate  proportion  of  the  associated  alkaloids,  and  it  is  upon 
this  very  ground  that  I  raised  objections  to  the  test  given  in  the  first 
issue  of  the  German  Pharmacopoeia.  Subsequently  I  pointed  out 
how  the  least  trace  of  cinchonidine  could  be  detected  with  certainty  in 
