434 
Bolivian  Cinchona  Forests. 
(Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\     August,  1884. 
of  nux-vomica  which  is  official  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia  by 
extracting  it  with  boiling  ether,  which  removes  also  a  little  oil  with  a 
trace  of  alkaloid.  The  residue  from  the  evaporation  of  the  ethereal 
solution  gives  the  reaction  of  loganin  when  gently  warmed  with  sul- 
phuric acid. 
It  has  been  shown  in  this  preliminary  note  that  the  pulp  of  the 
fruit  of  Strychnos  Nux-vomica  contains  to  the  extent  of  4  or  5  per 
cent,  a  new  glucoside  which  we  have  termed  loganin,  the  chemical 
composition  and  properties  of  which  have  been  described.  It  has  also 
been  shown  that  loganin  is  contained  in  small  quantity  in  the  seeds  of 
Strychnos  Nux-vomica  and  in  the  pharmaceutical  preparations  made 
from  them.  In  the  future  we  hope  to  be  able  to  indicate  the  chemical 
constitution  of  loganin  and  loganetin  and  to  discover  the  relations  (if 
any)  of  these  bodies  to  the  alkaloids  strychnine  and  brucine.  The 
physiological  action  of  loganin  will  also  receive  attention.  The  pulp 
of  Strychnos  Nux-vomica  was  collected  and  prepared  for  us  through 
the  ^kindness  of  Dr.  W.  C.  Ondaatje,  F.L.S.,  of  Galle,  Ceylon,  to 
whose  invaluable  services  in  aiding  this  investigation  we  shall  allude 
in  a  forthcoming  paper.  For  this  is  the  least  of  our  obligations  to 
him. — Pharm.  Journ.  and  Trans.,  June  21,  1884,  p.  1025. 
BOLIVIAN  CINCHONA  FORESTS.1 
The  great  progress  made  in  the  acclimatization  of  cinchona  trees  in 
India,  Ceylon,  and  elsewhere,  has  awakened  the  Governments  of  coun- 
tries where  the  plants  are  indigenous  to  the  necessity  of  conserving 
from  reckless  destruction,  and  re-planting  denuded  forests,  so  as  to  be 
able  to  keep  up  the  supply  of  this  valuable  product. 
In  Bolivia,  since  1878,  according  to  the  report  of  the  Netherlands 
Consul,  private  individuals  and  land  owners  have  taken  up  the  ques- 
tion with  great  earnestness,  and  at  the  present  time  on  the  banks  of 
the  Mapiri,  in  the  department  of  La  Paz,  there  are  over  a  million  of 
young  trees  growing. 
New  plantations  have  also  sprung  up  in  various  other  localities, 
either  on  private  ground  or  that  owned  by  Government.  The  competi- 
tion of  India  and  Ceylon  in  supplying  the  markets,  has  had  also  the 
effect  of  inducing  more  care  in  collecting  and  also  of  revisiting  old 
^rom  the  "Journal  of  the  Society  of  Arts,"  June  13,  1884. 
