382  Assay  of  Red  Cinchona  Bark.      { AmjuJn0eurI9PIgarm' 
There  is  also  a  preface  which  gives  full  details  as  to  the  movements 
which  led  up  to  the  preparation  of  the  work.  In  the  list  of  dele- 
gates originally  selected  to  attend  district  conventions  to  prepare 
lists  of  medicines  and  to  select  local  committees  are  to  be  found 
names  eminent  in  the  profession  one  hundred  years  ago,  many  of 
whom  figured  in  medical  literature.  A  good  many  of  them  also 
were  members  of  the  final  committee  which  prepared  the  National 
Pharmacopeia. 
From  New  York  there  were :  David  Hosack,  Samuel  L.  Mitchell, 
T.  Romeyn  Beck,  Lyman  Spalding,  John  W.  Francis  and  Valentine 
Mott.  From  Massachusetts :  John  C.  Warren,  Jacob  Bigelow, 
James  Thacher  and  George  C.  Shattuck.  From  New  Haven :  .Eli 
Ives  and  Nathan  Smith.  From  Philadelphia:  T.  T.  Hewson  and 
Joseph  Parrish.  From  Maryland:  Nathaniel  Potter,  Elisha  De- 
Butts,  Samuel  Baker  and  Ennals  Martin. 
NOTE  ON  THE  ASSAY  OF  RED  CINCHONA  BARK.1 
By  William  Partridge. 
In  the  official  process  of  the  1898  British  Pharmacopoeia  for 
the  assay  of  Cinchonce  rubra  cortex,  the  alkaloids  were  extracted 
from  the  bark  by  mixing  20  Gm.  of  the  powdered  sample  with  6 
Gm.  of  calcium  hydroxide  and  20  Cc.  of  water.  After  standing  for 
an  hour  or  two,  the  resulting  moist  powder  was  boiled  with  ben- 
zolated  amylic  alcohol  under  a  reflux  condenser,  submitted  to  two 
further  similar  extractions,  and  then  percolated  with  still  more  ben- 
zolated  amylic  alcohol. 
Benzolated  amylic  alcohol  quickly  extracts  cinchona  alkaloids 
from  a  simple  aqueous  suspension,  but  from  a  mixture  of  bark,  cal- 
cium hydroxide  and  water,  their  extraction  is  an  extremely  tiresome 
process. 
In  the  1914  edition  of  the  British  Pharmacopoeia,  the  same 
amount  (6  Gm.)  of  calcium  hydroxide  is  mixed  with  half  the  quan- 
tity (10  Gm.)  of  powdered  bark  and  slightly  more  (22  milliliters) 
water.  The  result  is  a  paste.  Into  this  130  milliliters  of  benzolated 
amylic  alcohol  are  added,  the  coherency  of  the  paste  is  enhanced, 
1  Reprinted  from  The  Analyst,  March,  191 9. 
