254  Note  upon  Cinchona  Alkaloids.  {^m™*^ 
NOTE  UPON  THE  CINCHONA  ALKALOIDS. 
By  Dr.  O.  Hesse.. 
On  p.  611  of  this  journal  Mr.  J.  E.  Howard  sought  to  refer  the 
injurious  action  of  the  "  mixed  alkaloids  "  prepared  from  the  bark  of 
C.  succirubra  to  their  containing  aricin  or  an  amorphous  decomposition 
product  from  it.  But  since  this  bark  contains  neither  aricin  nor  the 
easily  decomposable  cusconin,  with  which  some  authors  are  wont  to 
confound  aricin,  and  as  further  it  does  not  yield  amorphous  substances 
which  can  be  taken  for  decomposition  products  of  this  alkaloid,  the 
above  opinion  must  at  any  rate  appear  to  be  unfounded. 
It  is  true  that  in  1862  Mr.  Howard  claimed  to  have  prepared  aricin 
from  the  bark  in  question,  but  in  subsequent  investigations  of  it  he  does 
not  again  mention  this  alkaloid.  Probably  the  substance  was  only  cin- 
chonin,  which  under  certain  conditions  crystallizes  in  a  form  that 
resembles  aricin.  The  reverse  of  this  accident  almost  happened  to 
the  discoverers  of  aricine,  Pelletier  and  Coriol,  for  they  say  :  u  La 
jessemblance  qui  se  trouve  entre  ces  deux  substances  nous  avais  deja 
fait  penser  que  c'etait  de  la  cinchonine  que  nous  avions  obtenue." 
Nevertheless  the  two  alkaloids  are  readily  distinguishable  by  their 
behavior  towards  an  excess  of  dilute  sulphuric  or  oxalic  acid,  inasmuch 
as  aricin  is  precipitated  by  these  acids,  whilst  cinchonin  remains  in 
solution.  These  precipitates  are  crystalline,  and  so  difficultly  soluble 
in  water  and  in  dilute  acids  that  they  might  be  taken  for  sulphate  or 
oxalate  of  lime  respectively.  Also  if  cusconin  be  present  a  precipi- 
tate is  formed  by  sulphuric  and  oxalic  acids,  but  these  precipitates  are 
gelatinous  and  do  not  show  the  least  trace  of  crystallization. 
As  a  fact,  at  the  present  time  the  bark  in  question  does  not  contain 
the  minutest  trace  of  aricin  or  cusconin.  On  the  other  hand  there 
are  found  in  it, 'besides  varying  quantities  of  quinia,  cinchonidin  and 
cinchonin,  also  the  following  alkaloids:  conquinia,  conquinamin, 
paracin  and  two  or  three  other  amorphous  basic  substances  ;  probably 
also  cinchotin. 
One  thing  worthy  of  note  in  this  bark'  is  the  quantity  of  quinamin 
it  contains,  which  amounts  to  about  0*4  per  cent.  According  to  the 
experiments  of  Professor  Falck  quinamin  appears  to  moderate  the 
temperature  of  the  body  in  a  manner  similar  to  quinia.  In  a  rabbit  to 
which  I  had  administered  o'l  gram  of  quinamin  dissolved  in  acid  by 
injection  into  the  throat  I  could  observe  no  lowering  of  the  tempera- 
