290 
On  Ciindurango. 
r  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t    July  1,  1871. 
✓       but  was  unaccompanied  by  leaf  or  root,  so  that  the  botanical  charac- 
ters of  the  plant  could  not  be  determined. 
The  stem  is  woody  and  covered  by  a  greenish  or  ash  grey  bark,  the 
former  tint  being  due  to  the  lichens  on  its  surface  ;  the  branches  are 
from  a  half  inch  to  a  little  over  an  inch  in  diameter,  averaging  about 
the  thickness  of  the  finger  ;  the  v/oody  fibre  is  straw  colored  and  brittle, 
breaking  with  a  sharp  fracture;  it  is  almost  tasteless,  having  a  slight- 
ly aromatic  and  bitter  flavor  when  chewed. 
The  bark  contains  whatever  medicinal  virtues  are  in  the  plant ;  of 
grey  color,  slightly  ribbed  or  fluted  longitudinally  from  unequal  con- 
traction while  drying  on  the  branch  ;  increasing  in  thickness  in  pro- 
portion to  the  diameter  of  the  woody  stem,  in  the  thicker  branches 
constituting  more  than  half  the  weight  of  the  whole,  in  the  thinner 
somewhat  less  than  half;  readily  separable  from  the  stem  by  pound- 
ing or  bruising,  when  it  comes  off"  in  clean  longitudinal  pieces,  brittle 
in  the  transverse  fracture;  of  a  warm,  aromatic,  camphor  and  bitter 
taste,  resembling  the  cascarilla  of  the  old  collections.  Under  the 
lens  it  is  readily  resolvable  into  three  layers  :  1st,  the  inner  layer  or 
cambium  of  reticular  woody  tissue,  having  granules  of  starch  and  par- 
ticles of  resin  imbedded.  2d,  a  middle  layer  of  woody  fibre  and  dotted 
ducts  ;  resinous  particles  also  in  this  layer ;  and  3d  the  cuticular  or 
outer  layer  of  cells  of  a  brownish  color,  and  containing  coloring  mat- 
ter and  tannic  acid. 
The  usual  methods  of  filtration  from  digestion  in  the  usual  solvents, 
as  gasolene  boiling  at  110°,  ether,  alcohol,  carbon  disulphide  and 
water  &c.  were  adopted. 
1.  Ratio  of  bark  to  wood 
Bark  49-72  )    Mean  of  these 
Wood  50-28  j  experiments. 
100- 
2.  100  parts  of  bark  yield 
Moisture  at  100°  C.  8* 
Mineral  salts  (ash)  ^  12* 
Vegetable  substance  80* 
100- 
