524  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  {Am'o^iSarn1, 
the  trees  are  between  the  age  of  five  and  six  years,  as  after  that  time  there  is 
no  sensible  increase  in  the  amount  of  quinine.  Another  point  ascertained  was 
that  bark  which  had  been  kept  for  ten  months  in  a  damp  room,  and  had  be- 
come mouldy  in  consequence,  had  not  deteriorated  as  regards  the  amount  and 
quality  of  the  alkaloids. 
Cinchona  cultivation  in  South  America  was  the  title  of  a  paper  by  Mr.  David 
Howard,  who  believes  that  it  is  to  other  countries  than  Ceylon,  which  occupies 
at  present  the  most  prominent  position  of  all  the  countries  where  cinchonas 
have  been  cultivated,  that  we  must  look  for  the  solution  of  the  scientific  points 
involved  in  the  cultivation  of  cinchonas,  owing  to  the  little  care  that  has  been 
taken  in  Ceylon  to  avoid  the  danger  of  hybridization.  Unfortunately,  very  lit- 
tle scientific  information  can  be  obtained  from  South  America,  the  natural 
home  of  the  cinchonas,  except  what  little  can  be  derived  from  the  study  of 
the  cultivated  bark  which  reaches  us  from  that  country.  Among  the  cinchonas 
under  cultivation  in  South  America  are  two  new  species,  C.  Thomsoniana,  named 
after  Mr.  Thomson,  who  discovered  it  in  the  Central  Cordilleras,  the  home  of 
the  well-known  C.  Jancifolia,  and  another  discovered  by  Sefior  Pombo  in  Ecua- 
dor. C.  Thomsoniana  gave  an  analysis  of  the  bark  of  a  two-year  old  tree  33 
per  cent,  quinine  sulphate,  trace  of  cinchonidine,  and  0.55  per  cent,  cinchonine. 
The  bark  from  the  other  species  of  the  same  age  gave  57  per  cent,  quinine  sul- 
phate, 0'43  per  cent,  cinchonidine,  with  no  cinchonine  or  quinidine.  The  im- 
provement brought  about  by  the  successful  cultivation  of  the  cinchonas  is  fur- 
ther shown  by  the  results  obtained  from  the  same  plantations  in  1872  and  1881 
of  the  several  kinds  of  cinchonas  grown  in  Jamaica,  and  these  results  were 
even  more  favorable  in  the  cultivation  in  Columbia  of  descendents  from  the 
Jamaica  plantations.  In  the  case  of  a  succirubra  cultivation  in  Columbia  from 
a  Jamaica  plant  the  bark  yielded  as  much  as  7*0  per  cent,  quinine  sulphate, 
with  only  1*9  per  cent,  cinchonidine,  and  0*67  per  cent,  cinchonine,  and  Mr. 
Howard  remarks  that  this  succirubra  is  one  of  the  finest  he  has  tested.  In  Mr. 
Howard's  opinion  it  cannot  be  too  clearly  borne  in  mind  that  the  prospect  of 
future  profits  in  the  cultivation  of  cinchonas  depends  entirely  on  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  high  testing  bark,  for  in  the  face  of  the  importation  of  such  highly 
valuable  cultivated  bark  from  Bolivia,  as  well  as  from  Java,  the  profitable  grow- 
ing of  inferior  bark  is  impossible. 
Compound  spirit  of  ether. — The  next  paper  was  a  characteristic  note  by  Mr. 
Dott  on  this  preparation  which  has  recently  received  an  official  rehabilitation  ; 
it  wound  up  with  the  following  not  very  complimentary  conclusions: — 
(1)  That  the  Pharmacopoeia  directions  for  its  preparation  admit  of  a  very 
variable  result;  (2)  that  the  process  consists  principally  in  the  preparation  of 
ether,  and  its  evaporation  into  space;  (3)  that  though  this  extravagance  could 
not  be  grudged  if  it  resulted  in  a  product  of  extraordinary  potency,  there  is 
no  evidence  to  show  that  ethyl  sulphate  or  its  congeners  are  of  such  a  nature  ; 
and  (4)  that  the  introduction  of  this  preparation  appears  to  be  a  step  back- 
wards. 
The  business  of  the  Conference  having  been  so  far  concluded,  resolutions  of 
thanks  were  passed  to  the  local  committee,  to  the  officers  and  professors  of 
Mason's  Science  College,  to  the  retiring  general  secretary,  Mr.  Plowman,  and 
to  the  president. 
