464  The  Alkaloids  in  Cinchona  Trees.  {Ams^,nI87h7arm- 
root  bark  contains  more  of  these  alkaloids  than  any  single  specimen  of 
stem  bark  of  the  same  species,  and  greatly  more  than  the  average. 
Thus,  in  the  C.  Ledgeriana  the  increase  of  alkaloid  in  the  root  is 
very  slight,  but  the  proportion  of  quinidia  is  doubled,  and  of  cinchonia 
trebled,  the  amorphous  alkaloid  being  also  increased. 
In  the  Hasskarliana  the  total  alkaloid  is  decidedly  increased,  the 
proportionate  increase  of  the  dextrogyrate  alkaloids  being  similar  to 
that  in  the  Ledgeriana.  In  both  these  species  the  quantity  yielded  of 
these  alkaloids  is  but  small,  but  the  marked  increase  is  not  less  interest- 
ing on  that  account.  In  the  C.  succirubra,  also,  the  increased  quantity 
of  alkaloids  in  the  root  is  chiefly  cinchonia,  the  quinidia  increasing  from 
•01  to  '05  per  cent. 
There  has  been  no  opportunity  of  comparing  the  root  bark  of  the 
cinchonas  from  Ootacamund,  for  the  great  success  which  has  attended 
the  system  of  renewing  the  bark  puts  the  destruction  of  the  trees  out 
of  the  question  ;  but  it  is  interesting  to  observe  that  the  specimen  of 
root  bark  from  C.  officinalis  from  this  district,  which  I  described  in  1875, 
shows  an  increase  in  the  dextrogyrate  alkaloids  equal  to  that  in  the  C. 
officinalis  from  Darjeeling  ;  there  is  also  an  increase  in  the  quinia,  but 
much  less  than  in  the  Darjeeling  bark. 
A  specimen  of  root  and  stem  bark  from  the  Wynaad  district  has 
reached  me.  In  this  case  the  total  alkaloid  is  increased  from  5*0  per 
cent,  to  6*5  per  cent.,  the  quinia  being  diminished  and  the  cinchonidia 
increased  ;  but,  as  might  be  expected,  the  cinchonia  is  increased  from 
2*2  per  cent,  to  2*8  per  cent.,  and  the  quinidia  from  a  trace  to  -3  per 
cent. 
It  seems,  therefore,  that  there  is  an  invariable  tendency  in  the  bark 
of  the  root  of  the  various  species  of  cinchona  to  produce  the  dextrogy- 
rate alkaloids  in  greatly  increased  proportions,  and  this  is  the  more  note- 
worthy as  the  production  of  the  laevogyrate  alkaloids  in  the  root  bark 
varies  exceedingly,  according  to  the  species  and  habitat,  being  sometimes 
greater  and  sometimes  less  than  that  in  the  stem  bark  of  the  same  trees. 
The  same  tendency  is  shown  in  a  much  slighter  degree  by  a  com- 
parison of  the  bark  of  the  branches  with  that  of  the  large  stem's,  the 
proportion  of  the  cinchonia  and  quinidia  increasing  as  we  approach  the 
root  more  rapidly  than  that  of  the  quinia  and  cinchonidia  ;  but  it  is  not 
till  we  reach  the  root  that  we  see  the  sudden  and  well-marked  change 
in  proportion  of  the  alkaloids  that  we  have  been  considering. 
