PHARMACY  OF  THE  CINCHONAS. 
293 
able  experience  with  Winckler's  process,  and  a  number  of  expe- 
riments made  for  the  purpose,  have  led  the  writer  to  slight  mo- 
difications in  the  detail  and  practice  of  it,  which,  without  much 
injury  to  its  great  utility,  place  it  within  the  sphere  of  applica- 
tion in  every  pharmaceutical  establishment.  By  this  adaptation 
its  accuracy  is  impaired,  of  course,  and  the  first  few  trials  with  it 
are  not  reliable  without  confirmation ;  but  after  a  very  little 
practice  it  becomes  familiar  and  easy,  and  the  results  uniform, 
while  it  costs  very  little  in  either  money,  labor  or  skill.  The 
most  that  it  does  require  is  time  and  patience  ;  and  these,  which 
we  so  unwillingly  give  to  anything  in  these  days,  are  absolutely 
indispensable  here,  and  if  these  be' not  accessible  the  assays  had 
better  not  be  attempted  in  this  way,  for  they  cannot  be  honestly 
made. 
The  apparatus  necessary  for  the  convenient  performance  of  the 
process  is  a  scale  that  will  turn  with  half  a  grain,  or  even  a  grain, 
and  a  set  of  weights  that  agree  pretty  well  among  themselves ; 
a  graduated  measure,  divided  down  to  a  fluidrachm ;  two  cap- 
sules or  evaporating  dishes,  having  the  capacities  of  about  a  pint 
and  four  fluidounces  ;  a  5-inch  funnel ;  two  pint  flasks,  fitted  with 
corks,  and  one  of  them  marked  at  about  12  fluidounces  by  a  scratch 
or  by  pasting  on  a  piece  of  paper ;  and  two  or  three  little  beak- 
ers of  say  four  fluidounces  capacity,  with  stirrers.  The  mate- 
rials necessary  are  about  1 J  pints  of  common  alcohol ;  250  grains 
each  of  powdered  animal  charcoal  or  bone  black,  and  fresh- 
slaked  lime  ;  half  a  fluidounce  of  diluted  sulphuric  acid,  one  part 
acid  to  nine  parts  of  water  by  measure ;  a  half  a  fluidounce  of 
aqua  ammonia,  diluted  with  an  ounce  and  a  half  of  water ;  and 
three  or  four  each  of  five-inch  and  three-inch  round  filters  of 
common  gray  paper.  No  item  of  this  apparatus  or  material  is 
required  of  any  special  accuracy  or  purity,  and  every  one  of  them 
may  be  found  in  any  ordinary  pharmacy  or  dispensary,  of  pro- 
per sizes  and  qualities,  near  to  those  as  mentioned.  A  small 
spatula  or  two,  some  paper  and  some  water,  complete  this  simple 
list  of  all  that  is  necessary  except  a  water  bath,  which  may  be 
easily  extemporized  from  any  common  source  of  heat.  The  Cin- 
chona must  always  be  in  powder,  and  the  finer  the  better,  the 
ordinary  powders  of  the  market  being  just  right.  Pieces  of  bark 
