514 
ON  THE  RED  VARIETY  OF  PITAYO  BARK. 
digitaline  was  never  a  single  and  constant  product ;  and  he,  in 
fact,  determined  that  French  digitaline  contained  some  volatile 
matter  which  communicated  its  characteristic  odor. 
The  whole  of  M.  Lefort's  experiments  showed  that  French 
and  German  digitaline  differ  considerably  in  their  chemical  and 
physical  properties,  and  he  is  disposed  to  infer  that  as  great 
differences  may  be  found  in  their  therapeutical  properties. 
With  regard  to  the  separation  of  digitaline  by  means  of  di- 
alysis, the  author  found  that  a  simple  solution  of  the  substance 
quickly  dialysed,  and  the  digitaline  could  easily  be  found  in  the 
diffusate.  But  when  a  mixture  with  animal  and  vegetable  sub- 
stances was  placed  on  the  dialyser,  the  deposite  obtained  on 
evaporating  the  diffusate  gave  but  indistinctly  the  characteristic 
reactions  of  digitaline.  Among  these  characters  the  most  con- 
clusive appear  to  be  the  bitterness  of  taste,  the  green  coloration 
of  liquid  hydrochloric  acid,  and  the  development  of  the  pecu- 
liar odor  of  digitalis  on  exposure  to  the  vapor  of  hydrochloric 
acid. 
[It  may  interest  some  of  our  readers  to  know  that  the  volume 
of  Gmelin's  "  Chemistry"  just  issued  contains  an  excellent  ac- 
count of  digitaline,  and  the  various  processes  for  obtaining  it. — 
Ed.  C.  N.]—Chem.  News,  Aug.  27,  1864. 
ON  THE  RED  VARIETY  OF  PITAYO  BARK. 
By  J.  E.  Howard,  F.  L.  S.,  etc. 
Mr.  Robert  Cross,  who  was  employed  to  collect  seeds  of  the 
Cinchonee  on  behalf  of  the  Indian  Government,  in  the  district 
of  Popayan,  sent  over  recently  the  bark,  together  with  the 
seeds,  of  that  winch  ho  calls  "  The  red  variety  of  Pitayo,  the 
best  of  all."  He  gave  ten  ounces  of  this  bark  to  Dr.  Jameson, 
of  Quito,  who  says  it  is  the  true  Pitayo  bark  of  New  Granada, 
and  extracted  3  2  per  cent,  of  quinine  from  it.  Mr.  Markham, 
in  sending  me  the  seeds,  writes  as  follows : — "I  enclose  some 
specimens  of  bark  and  some  seeds  of  Cinchona  Pitayensis,  col- 
lectd  by  Cross  last  August.  They  were  collected  from  trees 
growing  on  lofty  ridges  near  Popayan,  where  it  sometimes 
freezes, — temperature  30^  to  60°  Fahrenheit." 
The  bark  was  at  once  recognized  as  the  superior  quality  of 
