ON CINCHONA BICOLORATA. 
49 
ART. VIII, — NOTE UPON THE CINCHONA BICOLORATA. 
The bark, which bears the designation at the head of this 
article, is ranged by systematic writers among the False Cin- 
chonas. The specific name, bicolorata, has been more espe- 
cially bestowed upon it by the continental druggists, while 
with the English it is known as Cinchona pit ay a. As the 
article has made its appearance in this market, we have been 
induced to present the following information with respect to 
it, derived from the authorities to which we have had access. 
The bark itself is described by Guibourt in the following 
manner : " It is found under the form of straight quills, eight 
or ten inches long, completely rolled in double or single quills 
from half a line to three quarters thick, hard and compact, not 
fibrous, with a short fracture. The exterior surface is very 
even, of a uniform yellowish gray ; the interior surface is of a 
deep brown or blackish color, sometimes gray, like the exte- 
rior, and then the bark does not present, in truth, the two co- 
lors, from which has originated its name. The fracture is 
deep orange ; the taste is bitter, disagreeable, analogous to that 
of angustura ; it has no odor. The powder has the color of 
that of the pale and red barks mixed." This description is 
not strictly accurate, as, in it is omitted the peculiarity of the 
external surface, which is of a grayish ashen color, like some 
of the varieties of Cinchona palldia, with irregular ovoid patch 
es of a white appearance, strongly contrasting with the other 
portion of the surface, and slightly depressed below its level, 
so as to exhibit a determinate line of separation between them. 
These patches are of greater size, more irregular and numerous 
in the larger quills than in the smaller. It is, therefore, most 
probable that the two distinct colors upon the surface has be- 
stowed the distinguishing name oibicolorata. 
Merat and Delens state that the true source of the drug un- 
vol. vii. — no. i. 7 
