9i8 
Quinine  Sulphate  in  Java. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
(     December,  1920. 
these  entities  for  the  degradation  for  nearly  every  carbohydrate 
found  in  ordinary  worts.  Its  suitability  for  general  purposes  is 
more  apparent  when  the  characteristics  of  other  saccharomyces 
are  considered.  For  example,  one  well-known  yeast,  Sacch.  Apicu- 
latus,  the  pear-shaped  cider  yeast,  possesses  no  hydrolyzing  enzyme, 
and  is,  therefore,  quite  unable  to  ferment  disaccharides,  such  as 
cane  sugar,  molasses,  etc.  Another  yeast,  Sacch.  Albicius,  is  able 
to  hydrolyze  and  then  ferment  maltose,  but  contains  no  invertase, 
so  that  the  cane  sugar  remains  unchanged.  On  the  other  hand, 
Sacch.  Kephir,  the  yeast  employed  in  the  fermentation  of  milk- 
yielding  Koumiss,  can  ferment  both  sugar  cane  and  lactose,  but  since 
it  does  not  contain  maltose,  maltose  is  unaffected  by  its  presence. 
AN  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  THE  PREPARATION  OF 
QUININE  SULPHATE  IN  JAVA  AND  IN  BRITISH 
INDIA.* 
We  are  indebted  to  Herr  P.  Van  Leer  sum,  the  former  director 
of  the  Japanese  Government  cinchona  plantation,  whose  decease 
we  announced  last  week,  for  a  valuable  and  interesting  contribution 
on  the  development  of  the  quinine  industry  in  British  India  and  in 
Java  ("Algem.  Landbouwweekbl.  v.  Nederl.  Ind.,"  No.  46,  1920). 
In  his  introductory  remarks  he  states  that  the  Indians  are  credited 
with  having  discovered  the  value  of  cinchona  bark,  whereas  von 
Humboldt  ascribes  its  introduction  to  Europeans,  who  casually 
discovered  the  bitter  taste  of  the  bark,  and,  in  common  with  other 
bitter  remedies,  employed  it  in  the  treatment  of  fever.  The  Spanish 
doctor  Villerobel  was  probably  the  first  to  bring  some  of  the  bark  to 
Spain  in  1632,  and  there  it  was  first  tested  in  1639  by  a  priest  in 
Alcada.  Another  tradition  records  that  Don  Jaun  Lopez  de  Vega, 
medical  attendant  to  Count  Del  Chinchon,  Viceroy  of  Peru,  re- 
ceived a  quantity  of  cinchona  bark  from  Don  Jaun  Lopez  de  Carni- 
zares,  Corrigedor  of  the  province  of  Loja,  and  with  it  cured,  in  1638, 
the  wife  of  the  Viceroy.  On  her  return  to  Spain  in  1640  she  brought 
some  of  the  bark  with  her,  and  thus  laid  the  foundation  of  its  use; 
in  fact,  for  a  long  time  it  was  known  as  Pulvis  comitissae.  The 
original  home  of  the  different  varieties  of  cinchona  is  to  be  found 
in  Boliva,  Peru,  Ecuador,  Colombia,  and  Venezuela.  The  ruthless 
manner  in  which  the  bark  was  obtained  led  to  the  wholesale  destruc- 
*  From  The  Chemist  and  Druggist,  August  28,  1920. 
