96 
Red  Bark  of  the  Nilgiris. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm , 
t      Feb.,  1885. 
firmed  by  Howard)  with  C.  erythrantha^  Pav.,  and  Triana,  the  most  recent 
monographer  of  the  genus,  has  referred  this  species  as  well  as  Spruce's 
specimen  to  C,  puhescens,  Vahl.  Neither  the  magnifoUa  nor  pubescens  of 
the  Nilgiri  plantations  can  in  any  way  be  confounded  with  Cinchona  pubes- 
cens, Vahl,  but  are,  no  doubt,  as  has  always  been  contended,  marked 
members  of  the  variable  series  of  hybrids  which  appear  to  invariably  arise 
in  plantations  where  officinalis  and  succirubra  are  cultivated  in  proximity. 
"  Mr.  Cross's  other  two  conclusions  proved  equally  baseless.  As,  how- 
ever, these  questions  of  synonomy  had  excited  a  good  deal  of  perplexity 
in  Ceylon  as  well  as  in  Southern  India,  I  suggested  to  the  Government  of 
Madras  that  Dr.  Trimen,  the  Director  of  the  Royal  Botanic  Garden,  Pera- 
deniya,  should  be  invited  to  visit  the  Cinchona  plantations  of  the  Madras 
Government,  in  order  to  bring  about,  if  possible,  some  uniformity  of  nomen- 
clature in  the  forms  and  species  of  Cinchona  cultivated  both  in  Ceylon  and 
Madras.  This  he  accordingly  did,  and  he  has  given  the  results  of  his 
exhaustive  study  of  the  whole  question  in  a  very  able  and  lucid  report 
(dated  June  30,  1883),  which,  representing,  as  it  also  does,  the  opinions 
arrived  at  by  the  Kevv  staff,  appears  to  me  to  flnallj^  dispose  of  the  whole 
subject.  Both  the  name^  pubescens  and  magnifolia  Dr.  Trimen,  for  reasons 
which  he  gives,  proposes  to  discard  in  favor  of  robusta  which  is  in  use  on 
some  estates  in  India,  and  'is  now  commonly  employed  in  Ceylon  for  the 
trees  in  question.'  Dr.  Trimen  describes  those  he  saw  on  the  Nilgiris  in 
the  following  words  :  'I  found  the  forms  to  be  just  those  so  common  in 
Ceylon  plantations.  Generally''  robust  well-grown  trees,  larger,  hardier, 
and  healthier  than  either  the  officinalis  or  succirubra,  among  which  they 
were  scattered,  and  often  flourishing  where  neither  of  them  can  thrive. 
Botanically.  there  was  the  same  range  of  variety,  the  extreme  form  in  one 
direction,  with  its  dark  green  smoothly  shining  leaves,  closely  approaching 
some  of  the  large-leafed  forms  of  C.  officinalis ;  and  that  in  the  other  direc- 
tion with  its  larger,  paler,  thinner  leaves,  more  or  less  pubescent  beneath, 
so  close  to  the  hairy  form  of  C.  succirubra  as  to  be  often  with  difficulty 
distinguished  from  it.  Between  these,  as  regards  color  and  pubescence, 
were  many  intermediates,  though,  undoubtedly,  with  a  little  ingenuity, 
the  whole  can  be  thrown  into  two  groups.' 
"  He  further  adds :  'We  have  direct  testimony  of  its  origin.  I  am 
assured  by  planters  of  credit  that  they  have  grown  both  glabrous  and 
pubescent  robusta  from  seed  of  ordinary  officinalis,  and  that  it  is  by  no 
means  unfrequent  for  seedlings  of  them  to  appear  in  seed-beds  on  estates 
where  no  trees  but  officinalis  and  succi?mbra  occur.  I  have  myself  seen 
seedlings  of  robusta  self-sown  where  there  are  no  parent  trees  of  the  sort 
whence  they  could  have  been  derived  ;  and  at  one  time  I  was  inclined  to 
regard  it  merely  as  a  variety  of  officinalis.  There  are,  I  think,  grounds  for 
believing  that  succirubra  generally  supplies  the  pollen,  and  is,  therefore, 
the  male  parent,  both  in  the  case  of  robusta  {succirubra  and  officinalis)  and 
anglica  {succirubra  and  Calisaya).^  " — Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  Dec. 20, 1883. 
Paraldehyde  in  Mental  Disorders. — Benda  has  used  paraldehyde 
as  a  hypnotic  in  34  cases  of  mental  disorder,  in  doses  varying  from  f  ^ss  to 
f,:^ii.  In  16  cases  sleep  was  produced;  in  the  remaining  cases  the  action 
was  uncertain  or  entirely  negative. — Med.  and  Surg.  Rep.,  Nov.  29,  1884. 
