AM'/uiyRi,i8e7A2RM'}  On  Wild  Cherry  Bark.  303 
tween  quinia  and  conchinin  (quinidia)  ;  but  it  does  not,  like  these  al- 
kaloids, produce  a  green  color  with  chlorine  and  ammonia.  The  ad- 
dition of  chlorine  causes  the  solution  to  turn  yellowish,  and  on  super- 
saturation  with  ammonia,  a  yellowish  amorphous  precipitate  occurs. 
Concentrated  sulphuric  acid  dissolves  the  new  alkaloid  colorless  ; 
on  heating  the  solution  turns  yellowish  and  brown.  Concentrated 
nitric  acid  produces  a  yellow  solution,  which  becomes  orange-red  and 
finally  colorless.  The  alkaloid  fuses  at  172°  C,  congealing  on  cool- 
ing, radiatedly  crystalline,  if  the  application  of  heat  has  lasted  only 
a  short  time  ,  when  longer  applied  it  turns  brown  and  amorphous. 
The  pure  alkaloid  has  scarcely  a  bitter  taste,  unless  combined  with 
acids,  when  it  is  pretty  bitter.  , 
The  amount  of  quinamina  left  on  hand  would  be  sufficient  to  deter- 
mine its  elementary  composition,  which,  however,  has  been  deferred 
until  more  can  be  prepared. 
Compared  with  other  alkaloids  of  the  cinchonas,  it  resembles  pay- 
tina  in  its  behavior  to  chloride  of  gold  ;  but  the  other  properties  of 
this  alkaloid  do  not  admit  of  its  being  confounded  with  quinamina. — 
Beriehte  d.  d.  ehem.  Gfes.  zu  Berlin,  1872,  JV.  6. 
ON  WILD  CHERRY  BARK. 
By  Joseph  L.  Lemberger. 
Query  43. — The  cold  infusion  of  wild  cherry  bark  sometimes  varies  considerably 
in  color.    Is  this  due  to  the  time  at  which  the  bark  is  collected,  or  to  what  other 
cause  ? 
In  investigating  this  subject,  several  ideas  have  suggested  them- 
selves : 
1st.  The  probability  that  the  season  or  month  in  which  the  bark  is 
gathered  may  control  the  peculiarity  we  meet  with. 
2d.  If  such  is  the  case,  it  must  be  due  to  some  principle  existing 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent  according  to  the  time  of  gathering. 
In  order  to  do  justice  to  the  query,  it  became  necessary  to  have 
the  different  seasons  of  the  year  represented  in  the  bark  to  be  exam- 
ined, having  no  data  at  all  upon  the  subject,  although  having  fre- 
quently been  examined,  however,  by  some  of  our  ablest  pharmacists, 
with  other  objects  in  view.  I  therefore  had  carefully  collected  for  me 
portions  ot  the  bark  during  every  month  of  the  year,  bark  of  the  root 
as  well  as  of  the  tree  or  branches,  and,  after  making  an  infusion,  find 
a  great  diversity  in  the  shades  of  color. 
