254  Menstruum  for  Fresh  Kola  Nuts.  {Am^18p96arm 
tion,  are  manufactured  in  South  Carolina,  Georgia  and  several  other 
of  the  Southern  States.  Pharmacists  and  others  who  wish  small  quan- 
tities of  'tar  for  home  consumption,  wedge  a  number  of  small  billets 
of  the  wood  into  an  iron  pot,  ignite  it  and  invert  the  whole  over 
another  iron  pot,  into  which  the  tar  drops  and  collects  as  the  upper 
vessel  becomes  heated.  Another  method  consists  in  placing  a  num- 
ber of  ignited  billets  at  the  top  of  an  inclined  plane  of  sheet  iron  ; 
the  tar  runs  down  and  is  collected  in  a  suitable  vessel. 
On  a  large  scale,  the  wood  is  cut  into  lengths  of  2  or  3  feet, 
split  into  billets,  and  arranged  on  end  in  a  cavity  in  the  earth,  pre- 
pared so  the  bottom  slopes  to  a  gutter  or  to  an  iron  trough  or  pipe. 
The  upper  ends  of  the  billets  are  covered  with  bark  and  then  with 
clay.  A  fire  is  built  on  top  of  the  whole,  using  poor  and  decayed 
wood.  When  the  whole  becomes  sufficiently  heated,  tar  runs  from 
the  iron  pipe  or  trough  and  is  conveyed  into  suitable  barrels.  The 
annual  output  of  tar  in  North  Carolina,  which  produces  the  great 
bulk  of  this  product,  is  not  far  from  60,000  barrels,  valued  at  some- 
thing over  $1  per  barrel. 
[To  be  continued.} 
A  MENSTRUUM  FOR  FRESH  KOLA  NUTS.  ~ 
By  J.  Henry  Schroedkr,  Ph.G. 
Ever  since  Mr.  Kilmer  read  his  interesting  paper  on  kola,  at  the 
Pharmaceutical  Meeting  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy, 
in  January,1  many  inquiries  have  been  made  regarding  the  best 
menstruum  for  exhausting  kola.  In  order  to  obtain  some  light  on 
this  question,  Prof.  Frank  G.  Ryan,  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of 
Pharmacy,  has  made  extractions  of  the  drug,  with  different  men- 
strua, as  follows : 
I.  100  grammes  of  the  fresh,  red  nuts  were  finely  sliced,  and 
extracted  by  macerating  with  200  c.c.  of  alcohol  and  2  c.c.  of  acetic 
acid,  during  four  weeks.  The  product  was  reddish  brown  in  color, 
and  had  the  characteristic  taste  of  fresh  kola  nuts,  somewhat 
astringent. 
II.  100  grammes  of  the  fresh,  white  kola  nuts,  finely  sliced,  were 
extracted,  as  stated  before,  with  200  c.c.  of  diluted  alcohol  and  2  c  c. 
of  acetic  acid.    The  product  was  somewhat  darker  in  color  than 
1  See  Am.  Jour.  Pharm.,  February,  1896,  p.  96. 
