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AmAu0gu''i87h6arm' }        The  International  Exposition.  369 
NOTES  ON  THE  INTERNATIONAL  EXPOSITION. 
BY  THE  EDITOR. 
III. 
In  addition  to  the  notes  on  the  cinchonas  and  their  products,  published  in  our 
last  number,  the  exhibit  of  Evans,  Lescher  k  Evans,  of  Liverpool,  England, 
deserves  to  be  mentioned  for  the  specimens  of  South  American  red  bark  and  of  the 
East  Indian  barks  of  Cinchona  lancifolia  and  C.  succirubra  in  connection  with 
fluid  extracts,  and  some  salts  of  cinchona  alkaloids.  Cinchona  barks  are  also  found 
in  the  department  of  Venezuela,  in  the  Agricultural  Building  ;  the  kinds  shown  are 
those  known  by  the  local  names  of  carayaca  and  barquisimeto,  the  botanical  origin  of 
which  we  have  not  ascertained,  and  the  bark  of  Cinch,  cordifolia  <var.  rotundifolia, 
Weddell.  This  tree  is  indigenous  to  New  Grenada,  attains  a  height  of  23  to  26 
feet  and  grows  at  an  elevation  of  5,000  to  8,000  feet  (1,500  to  2,400  metres)  above 
the  sea.  Several  varieties  of  this  species  are  found  further  South  in  Peru  5  the 
variety  rotundifolia  was  discovered  not  far  from  Caracas  by  Dr.  Ernst,  in  1870,, 
after  it  had  been  collected  by  Dr.  Vargas,  in  the  same  place,  in  1829  (see  "Am. 
Jour.  Pharm.,"  1870,  p.  449).  Delondre  and  Bouchardat  obtained  from  this  bark 
ra  to  1 -4  per  cent,  of  quinia  sulphate  containing  some  quinidia,  and  -5  to  -6  per 
cent,  of  cinchonia  sulphate.  Marcano  found  much  less  in  the  bark  from  Caracas, 
probably  in  consequence  of  improper  collection. 
The  mother  liquors  finally  obtained  in  the  manufacture  of  the  cinchona  alkaloids 
contain  the  uncrystallizable  chinoidin,  which  is  also  found  in  our  commerce  under 
the  names  of  amorphous  quinia  and  precipitated  extract  of  bark.  Notwithstanding 
it  has  been  repeatedly  and  urgently  recommended  as  a  reliable  tonic  and  efficient 
febrifuge,  it  is  comparatively  little  employed  in  regular  practice,  a  neglect  which,  in 
our  opinion,  is  not  at  all  deserved,  but  may,  perhaps,  be  traced  to  its  unsightly 
resinous  appearance  and  its  difficult  manageableness,  owing  to  its  insolubility  in 
water.  These  objections  are  entirely  removed  by  a  compound  exhibited  by  Fr. 
Jobst,  namely,  the  citrate  of  chinoidin,  in  the  form  of  transparent  scales,  resembling 
the  scale  preparations  of  iron.  In  this  combination  chinoidin  may  be  readily  given 
in  any  desired  form,  and,  therefore,  as  conveniently  prescribed  as  any  salt  of  the 
more  costly  cinchona  alkaloids.  We  think  that  pharmacists  should  direct  the 
attention  of  physicians  to  this  new  and  handsome  preparation. 
Another  febrifuge  drug  which  has  attracted  some  attention  since  the  Vienna 
International  Exposition  is  dita  bark,  the  bark  of  Echites  scholaris  Lin.,  s.  Alstonia 
scholaris,  R.  Br.,  which  is  exhibited  by  Jac.  Zobel,  apothecary  at  Manilla,  under 
the  names  of  Corteza  de  dita  or  quina  Filipina.  Gruppe  had  prepared  from  it  an 
amorphous  alkaloid  called  ditaina  ("Am.  Jour.  Pharm.,  1873,  P-  which  was 
found  to  possess  several  advantages,  even  over  quinia  in  the  treatment  of  fevers. 
This  ditaina  is  evidently  not  a  pure  alkaloid,  and  the  pecu  ^r  proximate  principles 
of  dita  bark  are  more  numerous  ("  Am.  Jour.  Pharm.,"  1875  P-  22 1)  tnan  was  at 
first  supposed.  Jobst  and  Hesse  obtained  from  the  alcoholic  tincture,  by  precipi- 
tating it  with  sugar  of  lead,  a  crystalline  and  an  oily  acid  ;  by  precipitating  after- 
wards with  subacetate  of  lead,  different  resin-like  products,  and  subsequently,  by 
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