AmMa?ch,fSrm'}    Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  169 
Thursday  last.  It  only  succeeded  in  preventing  the  bark  from  fall- 
ing below  an  average  unit  of  6  90c.  per  half-kilo.,  which  is  certainly 
a  Pyrrhic  victory.  It  may  be  urged  that,  without  the  stand  made 
by  the  "syndicate,"  the  unit  would  have  been  down  to  4  or  4^c. 
per  half-kilo.,  and  every  advantage  lost  that  was  gained  during  the 
autumn.  Still,  if  the  planters  cannot  do  better  in  February  and 
March  than  they  did  last  Thursday,  their  co-operation  will  probably 
not  outlive  the  initial  three  months,  and  the  last  state  of  the  plant- 
ing interest  will  be  worse  than  the  first,  for  the  decisive  defeat  of  a 
"  syndicate  "  that  started  under  such  favorable  auspices  as  the  pres- 
ent will  probably  deter  others  from  trying  the  policy  of  concerted 
action  afresh.  We  have  often  expressed  the  belief,  to  which  we 
still  adhere,  that  the  Java  planters  could  have  obtained  effective 
control  of  the  bark-market  if  they  had  known  how  to  seize  the  right 
moment,  and  had  had  the  right  man  to  lead  them.  But  we  are 
afraid  that  that  time  is  now  gone  for  good,  and  so  far  we  have  seen  no 
evidence  of  the  existence  of  a  man  qualified  to  fight  the  quinine 
combination  successfully.  This  does  not  imply  that  we  take  a 
gloomy  view  of  the  quinine  market — far  from  it — but  we  do  incline 
to  the  belief  that  the  planters  will  shortly  fall  more  helpless  victims 
to  the  quinine  "  combination "  than  they  have  ever  been  before. 
The  quinine-makers  are  a  small  but  highly-organized  body,  the 
planters  a  mere  undisciplined  mob.  It  seems,  indeed,  from  the 
sale  catalogue  of  the  last  Amsterdam  auction,  that  the  firms  who 
took  a  leading  part  in  the  December  conferences  that  led  to  the 
scheme  for  concerted  action  did  withdraw  the  bulk  of  their  cinchona 
at  prices  above  the  unit  obtainable  at  the  auctions,  but  there  appear 
to  be  plenty  of  others  only  too  ready  to  take  the  places  of  those 
who  refuse  to  sell.  And  yet  there  are  many  factors  which  would 
make  a  combination  of  cinchona-planters  more  easy  to  manage  than 
many  another  syndicate  that  has  for  years  held  its  own  in  the  face 
of  adverse  circumstances.  For  one- thing,  85  per  cent,  of  the  avail- 
able quinine-supply  of  the  world  is  produced  in  one  island,  and  by 
less  than  100  firms.  Next,  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  bulk  of 
the  great  factories  have  not  more  than  a  moderate  stock  of  bark  on 
hand,  and  that  there  is  no  excessive  cinchona  stock  in  second  hands 
to  harass  the  action  of  a  combination.  Further,  a  bark  combina- 
tion would  be  free  from  the  great  trouble  of  other  syndicates  in  raw 
products  that  new  supplies  may  be  discovered  at  any  moment.  It 
