220  Notes  on  Sugar-coated  Quinia  Pills.    {  *i*ftj5g* 
or  resinous  appearance.  Cinchonia,  being  nearly  insoluble  in  ether-,, 
would  remain  suspended  in  the  aqueous  solution.  Quinidia  and  cin- 
chonidia  would  be  dissolved  only  with  difficulty  by  the  ether,  separat- 
ing from  the  solution  on  slow  evaporation,  or  even  without  evapora- 
tion, in  distinct  crystals. 
Judged  by  the  behavior  of  the  ethereal  solution,  samples  1  and  2  were 
tolerably  free  from  admixture  of  the  cheaper  alkaloids,  a  trifling 
amount  of  cinchonia  alone  showing  itself.  In  No.  3,  a  large  quantity 
of  ether  was  required  to  dissolve  the  alkaloid,  which  was  in  part 
thrown  down  during  the  evaporation  as  an  amorphous  precipitate. 
Its  characters  did  not  in  fact  correspond  exactly  with  those  of  any 
of  the  common  bark  alkaloids,  but  were,  perhaps,  such  as  might  be 
exhibited  by  quinia  after  the  action  of  excessive  heat.  No.  4  con- 
tained no  alkaloid  except  quinia.  No.  5  contained  a  very  large  pro- 
portion of  the  less  soluble  alkaloids.  The  ethereal  solution  crystal- 
lized freely,  even  without  evaporation.  The  pills  themselves  were  of 
a  dark  color,  and,  even  after  extraction  with  ether,  the  alkaloids 
yielded,  on  treatment  with  dilute  sulphuric  acid,  a  strongly  colored 
solution.  Evidently  the  "quinine"  employed  was  an  extremely 
crude  article.  These  pills  also,  alone  out  of  the  five  samples  examined,, 
contained  an  excess  of  acid. 
In  a  second  series  of  experiments,  made  by  way  of  confirming  the 
results  already  obtained,  the  amount  of  quinia  was  estimated  from 
the  sulphuric  acid  contained  in  the  pills.  Since  sulphuric  acid 
is  easily  estimated  by  a  volumetric  process,  this  method  might  be 
employed  by  those  who  have  not  the  apyliances  for  making  gravime- 
tric analyses.  (Ten  grains  of  quinia  sulphate  requires  for  precipi- 
tation 2-814  grs.  of  barium  chloride.)  For  obvious  reasons,  however, 
this  plan  cannot  be  recommended  as  affording  by  itself  any  reliable 
information  in  regard  to  the  amount  of  quinine  present. 
The  sparing  solubility  of  the  neutral  sulphate  of  quinia,  and  the 
facility  with  which  it  crystallizes  from  a  solution  in  hot  water,  suggests- 
a  simple  method  of  determining  whether  the  pills  contain  the  full 
amount  of  quinine  claimed  by  the  label.  If  two  grains  of  quinine  be  dis- 
solved in  six  fluidrachms  of  hot  water,  crystals  form  sparingly  in  the 
fluid  within  a  few  hours  after  cooling.  With  a  smaller  quantity  of 
water  the  crystallization  is,  of  course,  more  rapid  and  abundant.  I 
found  that  two  grain  pills  from  samples  1  and  2  yielded  crystals  when 
dissolved  in  five  and  a  half  fluidrachms  of  water.    No.  3  crystallized 
