A"io°berPi£m-}       Effect  of  Phosphatic  Manures.  537 
tion  was  made  in  each  of  these  cases,  and  the  weight  of  the  non- 
volatile matter  deducted  from  the  constant  weight  of  the  contami- 
nated caffeine. 
Kola. — Otis  O.  Schaeffer,  Ph.G.,  applied  the  process  to  fluid 
extracts  and  wines  of  kola,  also  to  a  cordial  and  an  elixir  of  it. 
In  the  cases  of  the  fluid  extracts  5  c.c.  were  taken  for  the  assay ; 
of  the  other  preparations  20  c.c.  were  used.  The  fluid  extracts 
showed  1-41,  1-35  and  080  per  cent,  of  alkaloid;  the  cordial  and 
elixir  yielded  0-30  and  0-24  per  cent.,  respectively.  Much  varia- 
tion was  found  in  the  wines  from  which  o-u,  072,  0-85  and  0-27 
per  cent,  were  severally  obtained. 
THE  EFFECT  OF  PHOSPHATIC  MANURES  ON  THE 
GROWTH  OF  JALAP  TUBERS.1  / 
By  David  Hooper. 
For  many  years  past  the  jalap  plant  (Ipomcea  purga)  has  been 
successfully  cultivated  in  the  Government  cinchona  plantations  at 
Dodabetta,  Nilgiris,  and  quantities  of  the  dried  tubers  have  been 
supplied  annually  to  the  Madras  Medical  Store  Department.  The 
valuable  qualities  of  the  tubers  grown  on  these  hills  have  been 
noticed  on  various  occasions  since  they  were  introduced  in  the  year 
1870.  Some  of  the  first  samples  of  the  drug  analyzed  in  England 
yielded  18  per  cent,  of  resin,  and  samples  of  the  mixed  powder  from 
consignments  sent  to  the  medical  stores  have  contained  from  16  to 
1 7  per  cent,  of  the  active  principle. 
About  two  years  ago  it  was  noticed  that  the  plants  were  not  in 
their  usually  healthy  condition ;  they  did  not  flower  so  freely,  and 
the  tubers  were  slightly  discolored  and  of  smaller  size.  It  was  sup- 
posed that  the  land  in  which  the  crop  had  been  grown  year  after 
year  was  becoming  exhausted,  and  the  plants  were  not  assimilating 
sufficient  nourishment,  and  this  supposition  was  borne  out  by  the 
fact  that  the  tubers  from  this  plot  contained  only  12  9  per  cent,  of 
resin.  Some  of  these  tubers  were  transferred  to  some  freshly-ma- 
nured soil,  and,  after  a  few  months'  growth  in  their  new  surround- 
ings, the  tubers  were  examined  and  found  to  contain  15-3  per  cent, 
of  jalap  resin.    In  another  experiment,  a  fine,  large  tuber,  which 
1  Pharmaceutical  Journal,  July  11,  1896. 
