282 
Pharmaceutical  Colleges,  etc. 
(  Am  Jouk.  PHARKt. 
\     June  1,1873. 
timber  of  the  Eucalypts  when  green  is  generally  soft,  but  when  cut  into  beams, 
planks,  etc.,  it  soon  becomes  very  hard  and  difficult  to  work.  ;  The  bark  of  Eu- 
calyptus leucoxylon,  Fr.  Mueller,  contains  much  gum  resin,  and  is  remarkable 
for  its  hardness  ;  that  of  E.  obliqua,  L'Her,  is  used  for  roofing  purposes,  and 
will  furnish  printing  and  writing  paper ;  while  the  barks  of  many  other  species 
will  yield  packing  paper  and  paste  boards.  Gum  resins  occur  in  the  Eucalypts 
in  flattened  cavities  in  the  otherwise  solid  wood  as  viscid  liquids  ultimately 
becoming  hard  and  brittle.  The  liquid  gum  resins  are  obtained  from  incisions 
made  in  the  wood,  and  lose  about  65  per  cent,  at  212°  F.,  when  they  are  easily 
pulverized.  They  are  usually  of  a  dark  red  brown  color  and  intensely  astringent 
taste.  Botany  Bay  kino  is  obtained  from  E.  resinifera  ;  that  from  E.  rostrata 
is  even  preferred  to  others  as  an  astringent. 
In  Victoria  alone,  about  71,500  square  miles  are  estimated  to  be  covered  by 
various  species  of  Eucalyptus,  from  which  essential  oils  in  almost  unlimited 
quantity  might  be  obtained.  These  oils  are  useful  in  perfumery  as  solvents  for 
various  resins,  among  them  kourie,  and  for  illuminating  purposes,  their  illumin- 
ating power  being  almost  equal  or  superior  to  the  best  American  petroleum. 
Saccharine  substances,  called  manna,  arc  obtained  from  E.  viminalis  and 
E.  dumosa,  the  former  secreted  by  the  leaves  and  slender  twigs  from  punctures 
or  injuries,  the  latter  being  the  secretion  upon  the  leaves  of  the  pupa  of  an 
insect  of  the  Psylla  family. 
The  General  Austrian  Apothecaries'  Society  has  received  from  the  De- 
partment of  Culture  and  Education  of  Austria,  a  subvention  of  five  thousand 
guilders,  to  be  expended  for  building  their  hall  and  school,  and  an  additional 
two  thousand  guilders  towards  their  cabinet  of  natural  philosophy. 
The  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Paris  held  a  meeting  April  2d,  M.  Grassi 
presiding.  M.  Petit  stated  that  from  25  litres  of  herring  pickle  he  had  ob- 
tained 30  grams  muriate  of  trimethylamina  and  45  grams  chloride  of  ammonium. 
M.  Guichard  showed  some  large  crystals  of  benzoic  acid,  obtained  by  the  slow 
action  of  sulphide  of  carbon  upon  benzoin,  and  said  that  this  menstruum  ap- 
pears to  present  certain  advantages  as  an  agent  for  purifying  resins.  M.  De 
Vrij  observed  that  some  resins,  like  that  of  Podocarpus  cupressina,  are  not 
dissohed  by  sulphide  of  carbon. 
M.  De  Yrij  communicated  the  results  obtained  by  Prof.  Oudemans,  of  the 
Netherlands  Polytechnic  School,  on  the  variations  of  the  rotary  power  of 
active  substances  which  is  influenced  by  the  vehicles  in  which  they  are  dis- 
solved, instancing  cinchonidia  with  a  left  rotation  varying  in  degree  with  the 
strength  of  alcohol  used  as  a  solvent,  aud  cinchonia,  whose  right  rotation  is  in- 
fluenced by  the  use  of  alcohol  or  chloroform  ;  hence  the  necessity  of  always 
employing  the  same  solvent  when  making  comparative  experiments.  M.  Carles' 
quinimetric  process*  has  not  furnished  him  with  reliable  results,  which  M. 
Vigier  accounted  for  by  some  neglect  or  fault  in  the  operation.  For  determin- 
ing the  value  of  cinchona  bark  by  the  rotatory  power  of  the  alkaloids,  the  total 
*See  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  1873,  p.  27. 
