316 
Two  New  Remedies,  etc. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Phabm. 
t     July  1,  1873. 
eral  cubic  centimetres  ;*  but  there  was  no  uniformity  between  these 
results  and  those  obtained  by  Barreswill's  solution,  which  corrobo- 
rates the  above  expressed  opinion  that  alkaline  copper  solutions  are 
unfit  for  determining  correctly  the  glucose  in  opium,  and  that  re- 
course must  be  had  to  fermentation.  In  this  case  the  so-called  Per- 
sian opium  appeared  to  contain  an  abnormal  quantity  of  glucose  ;  but 
it  is  difficult  to  establish  it  by  reliable  points  of  comparison. 
This  opium  differs  considerably  from  the  Persian  opiums  described 
by  Guibourt,f  as  coming  in  sticks  wrapped  in  paper  and  weighing 
about  20  grams,  and  as  containing  -I  per  cent,  of  morphia,  or,  accord- 
ing to  Merck,  even  one  per  cent,  and  80*55  of  extract.  Guibourt 
states  also  that  its  solution  separates,  on  evaporation,  a  white  crystal- 
line deposit,  but  he  has  not  established  its  nature. 
ON  TWO  NEW  REMEDIES  AT  TILE  VIENNA  EXPOSITION. 
By  W.  HiLDWErN.J 
Among  the  large  number  of  plants  indigenous  to  the  Philippine 
Islands,  two.species  of  trees  have  recently  attracted  considerable  atten- 
tion ;  they  ;ire  Echises  seholaris,  nat.  ord.  Apocynaceoe,  and  Garcinia 
mavgostana,  nat.  ord.  Guttiferaei  The  former  is  very  common  in  the 
province  of  Batangar,  Island  of  Luzon,  and  its  bark  has  been  used 
bv  the  natives,  under  the  name  of  dita,  as  a  remedy  in  all  kinds  of 
fever.  G.  Gruppe,  apothecary  in  Manilla,  obtained  from  it  an  un- 
crystallizable,  very  hygroscopic  bitter  principle,  which  he  named 
ditain,  and  which  has  been  employed  by  Prof.  Dr.  Miguel  Zina,  the 
chief  physician  of  the  province  of  Manilla,  in  the  hospitals  under  his 
supervision.  He  found  that  ditain  is  not  only  a  complete  substitute 
for  quinia,  but  is  even  superior  to  it  in  not  producing  the  unpleasant 
effects  sometimes  observed  from  the  latter.  It  is  given  in  the  same 
manner  and  doses  as  quinia,  and  is  prepared  by  a  process  similar  to 
that  of  the  latter  alkaloid  ;  it  has  also  been  used  as  a  tonic  in  a  num- 
ber of  cases  with  success.  100  grams  of  bark  yielded  two  grams  of 
ditain,  0*85  sulphate  of  calcium  and  10  grams  of  extractive,  which  is 
without  any  effect.  The  trees  yield,  without  being  injured  in  their 
growth,  a  large  quantity  of  bark,  50  kilograms  of  which  cost  in  Ma- 
*  One  c.e.  carbonic  acid  indicates  3-88  m.  of  glucose, 
t  Drogues  simples,  iii,  657. 
J  Translated  from  Zeitschrift  d  allg.  Oesterr.  Apoth.  Yer.,  1873,  p.  249. 
