576  EDITORIAL. 
whilst  the  chair  of  chemistry  has  been  committed  to  Mr.  Ferdinand  F. 
Mayer,  of  New  York.  We  cannot  but  congratulate  our  New  York  friends 
upon  this  new  step,  by  which  they  have  secured  the  services  of  two  capa- 
ble and  energetic  pharmaceutists.  The  untiring  assiduity  and  the  ability 
displayed  by  Mr.  Maisch,  in  his  connection  with  our  College  operations, 
leads  us  to  believe  that  in  his  new  sphere  of  action  he  will  prove  emi- 
nently useful  to  the  cause  of  pharmaceutical  education  ;  and,  while  regret- 
ting his  removal  from  amongst  us,  we  cannot  but  feel  gratified  that  his 
sphere  of  usefulness  is  enlarged,  and  that  his  success  in  life  will  be  pro- 
moted. 
The  Maryland  College  of  Pharmacy. — Since  the  session  of  the  last 
winter  we  were  sorry  to  hear  that  Dr.  Steiner,  the  Professor  of  Chemistry 
in  this  College,  having  removed  his  residence  to  Frederick  City,  has  re- 
signed his  connection  with  the  College.  By  a  circular  recently  received 
we  are  informed  that  Mr.  Alfred  M.  Mayer  has  ))een  elected  to  the  vacant 
chair  of  chemistry.  The  lectures  will  be  conducted  as  heretofore  at  the 
College  Hall,  47  North  Calvert  street,  Baltimore. 
The  British  East  Indian  Experiment  in  the  Culture  of  Cinchona. — 
Through  the  last  Pharmaceutical  Journal,  we  learn  that  the  plants  taken 
to  India  by  Mr.  Markham  have  all  died,  owing,  it  is  supposed,  to  the  ex- 
posure to  severe  weatlier,  in  being  carried  across  the  Andes  to  the  port  of 
embarkation.  A  new  attempt  is  now  being  made  with  plants  of  the 
gray  and  yellow  bark,  and  some  seeds.  Mr.  Markham  states  in  a  letter  to 
the  Madras  Tunes,  "  that  a  further  supply  of  plants  and  seeds  is  expected 
from  Eucador,  and  that  arrangements  have  been  made  with  duly  qualified 
agents  to  continue  sending  supplies  of  both  as  long  as  they  may  be  neces- 
sary.^' It  is  also  said  that  attempts  will  be  made  to  naturalize  the  plant 
in  the  hills  of  Jamaica  and  Ceylon.  The  success  of  the  Dutch  in  Java, 
where  they  already  have  half  a  million  of  plants  growing  thriftily — chiefly 
of  the  Calisaya  variety — is  very  encouraging,  especially  as  the  per  cent- 
age  of  quinia  yielded  by  the  Javan  plant  seems  greater  than  that  obtained 
from  the  South  American  bark.  Dr.  McPherson,  in  a  recent  visit  to  the 
plantation,  was  jealously  prevented  from  bringing  away  a  single  plant. 
On  the  Detection  of  Strychnia  as  a  Poison,  and  the  Influence  of 
Morphia  in  Disguising  the  usual  Color-tests,  by  John  J.  Reese,  M.  D. 
of  Philadelphia,  (from  the  American  Journal  of  Medical  Science.)  The 
reception  of  the  above  pamphlet  from  the  author,  as  we  are  closing  our 
form,  is  acknowledged,  and  we  hope  in  a  future  number  to  make  an  ab- 
stract. The  author  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  the  presence  of  morphia 
in  an  equal  quantity  so  modifies  the  action  of  the  color-test  of  strychnia,  as 
to  render  it  less  perfect  than  has  been  thought — but  that  it  in  nowise  in- 
terferes with  Marshall  Hall's  frog-test.  This  is  important  information,  as 
the  cotemporaneous  administration  of  these  alkaloids  is  not  unfrequent. 
