Phaem 
172  Xylol— New  Remedy  for  Small-pox.  {k\*Ti\ml 
plantations  in  the  Preanger  Residency,  Government  is  experimenting 
in  the  Passoeroean  Residency  and  in  Sumatra.  Seeds  and  plants  have 
also  been  granted  to  private  persons  on  application,  and  several  landed 
proprietors  have  established  small  plantations  which  promise  well,  and 
are  likely  to  be  enlarged. 
A  quantity  of  cinchona  bark  was  sent  during  1870  to  Holland  for 
realization,  and  the  prices  ranged  from  1  florin  2  cents  to  1  florin  40 
cents  per  pound.  The  medical  service  here  has  also  been  supplied. 
The  entire  last  year's  crop  was  over  9000  pounds  bark,  and  the  ex- 
penses of  cultivation,  including  salaries,  etc.,  slightly  exceeding  ,£3500. 
The  following  is  a  list  of  the  various  descriptions  of  plants  in  the 
Government  plantations  in  December,  1870  : — 
Cinchona  Calisaya  and  O.  Hasskarliana,     .  .  1,177,951 
O.  succirubra  and  O.  caloptera*  .  .  167,964 
O.  officinalis,  .....  287,849 
C.  lancifolia,  .....  45,777 
O.  micrantha,         .  .  .  .  .  785 
Total,  .....  1^680,299 
Of  the  Government  Botanical  Gardens  at  Buitenzorg,  we  are  also 
told  that  they  "  are  well  known  over  the  East  for  their  extent  and 
beauty  as  well  as  for  their  botanical  value :  they  are  under  the  charge 
of  Dr.  Scheffer.  Frequent  exchanges  of  plants  occur  between  the 
Buitenzorg  Gardens  and  those  of  many  of  the  British  colonies." — 
Pharm.  Journ.  and  Tram.,  London,  Feb.  24,  1872. 
XYLOL,  THE  NEW  REMEDY  FOR  SMALL  POX. 
By  C.  R.  C.  Tichborne,  F.C.S.,  M.R.I.A. 
Xylol,  xylene,  or  ethyl-benzine,  as  it  has  been  respectively  called, 
is  one  of  a  homologous  series  of  hydrocarbons,  of  which  the  well- 
known  benzine  and  toluene  form  the  two  first.  These  hydrocarbons 
are  all  formed  from  coaltar-naphtha.  Xylol  was  first  procured  by 
Hugo  Miiller,  but  its  nitro-compound  had  previously  been  discovered 
by  Warren  De  la  Rue,  in  1856.  Coaltar-naphtha  is  submitted  to 
fractional  distillation  until  the  part  which  boils  at  141°  is  separated; 
this  is  submitted  to  the  action  of  fuming  sulphuric  acid,  which  dis- 
solves the  xylol  and  leaves  the  other  hydrocarbons.  The  xylol  is  then 
separated  by  distillation  from  this  mixture. 
*  We  do  not  know  to  what  species  this  refers. — Ed.  Pharm.  Journ. 
