322 
ON  CINCHONA  CULTURE  IN  INDIA. 
these  lie  has  submitted  to  analysis.  His  results  are  contained 
in  an  elaborate  table,  which  was  not  read  to  the  meeting.  The 
author  estimated  the  quinine,  cinchonine,  quinidine,  and  cin- 
chonidine,  and  noticed  another  alkaloid,  soluble  in  ether,  which 
does  not  give  the  reactions  of  quinine,  and  which  somewhat 
complicated  the  results.  He  also  determined  the  quinovic  acid 
in  the  leaves,  which  he  considers  an  essential  constituent  of  the 
cinchonas.  Besides  this  acid,  the  leaves  yielded  traces  of  alka- 
loids, but  not  quinine-  An  experiment  had  been  made  to  test 
the  effects  of  thickening  the  bark  by  wrapping  moss  around  the 
stem,  and  it  had  proved  successful.  The  bark  of  a  young  plant 
so  treated  yielded  84  per  cent,  of  alkaloids.  One  unexpected 
result  obtained  in  Dr.  De  Vry's  experiments  was  that  the  root 
bark  was  found  to  contain  more  of  the  alkaloids  than  the  bark 
of  the  stem.  In  conclusion,  the  author  expressed  his  belief 
that  the  cultivation  of  cinchona  in  India  had  proved  a  complete 
success,  and  that  future  results  would  show  it  as  lucrative  as  it 
is  now  interesting  in  a  scientific  point  of  view. 
Mr.  Morson  called  attention  to  the  circumstance  of  quinovic 
acid  appearing  in  the  plant  before  the  quinine.  In  the  poppy 
it  had  been  noticed  that  meconio  acid  apppeared  long  before 
morphia. 
Mr.  D.  II anbury,  Jr.,  thanked  Mr.  De  Vry  for  his  interest- 
ing communication,  and  remarked  on  the  extraordinary  increase 
in  the  number  of  plants,  a  single  plant  being  increased  to  4000 
without  seed. 
Dr.  De  Vry  said  that  Mr.  Mclvor  preferred  to  propagate  by 
cuttings,  and  not  by  seeds.  He  also  starved  the  plants  to  com- 
pel them  to  make  root,  which  would  appear  to  be  the  most 
valuable  part  of  the  plant,  for  he  had  himself  found  eight 
times  more  alkali  in  the  bark  of  the  root  than  he  had  found 
in  the  bark  of  the  stem.  It  might  perhaps  prove  more  useful 
to  cultivate  the  plant  for  'the  root  than  the  bark.  Experiments 
were  now  in  progress  in  Java  to  determine  that  point.  He  be- 
lieved that  the  bark  of  the  root  of  South  American  cinchona 
had  been  used  in  France, 
Mr.  Hanbury  said  that  the  root  bark  of  the  C.  Calisaya  had 
been  imported  into  England,  but  although  it  was  very  cheap  it 
would  not  sell. 
