Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
August,  1883.  J 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
419 
this  tea  in  Arabia,  is  said  to  antedate  that  of  coffee;  the  effects  of  its 
use  are  said  to  be  similar  to  those  of  strong  Chinese  green  tea.  The 
Arabs  also  chew  the  leaves,  both  in  the  green  and  the  dried  state,  the 
effect  of  which  is  to  increase  the  flow  of  hilarity  and  mirth,  and  to 
produce  extreme  wakefulness  and  watchfulness,  an  effect  somewhat 
similar  to  that  produced  by  coca. — Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans. j  1883, 
April  14;  Ind.  Agriculturist. 
Sulamita  vitulus,  a  plant  of  the  natural  order  Melastomacese,  grows 
in  Colombia,  where  it  is  used  in  neuralgic  affections.  The  flowers  have 
a  strong  and  somewhat  rose-like  odor,  and  yield  1 J  to  4  per  cent,  of 
volatile  oil,  which  is  heavier  than  water,  and  appears  to  be  useful  in 
perfumery. — Rundschau,  Leitm.,  April  10,  1883. 
Opium  Assays. — Four  cases  of  Yerli,  Karahissar,  and  Bogaditch 
opium  assayed  by  Dr.  Squibb,  gave  the  following  results :  water  18*40 
to  21-77  per  cent.,  residue  29*40  to  34*83  per  cent.,  morphine  12*15  to 
13*27  per  cent.,  morphine  in  powder  15*5  to  16*5  per  cent. 
Dr.  Squibb  also  examined  nine  cases  of  Persian  opium,  each  of  the 
cases  containing  160  plano-convex  lumps,  weighing  130  pounds.  When 
assayed  by  his  process  ("Am.  Jour.  Phar.'^  1882,  p.  244),  it  was 
noticed  that  although  the  ether  extracted  an  unusual  amount  of  narco- 
tine,  yet  the  morphine  had  retained  about  4  per  cent,  of  this  alkaloid, 
which  could  not  be  removed  by  ether,  but  remained  behind  on  dis- 
solving the  morphine  with  lime  water.  The  opium  contained  much 
of  a  glucose-like  substance,  and  comparatively  little  insoluble  matter, 
one  sample  yielding  8*7  per  cent,  water,  24*3  per  cent,  residue,  and  13 
per  cent,  morphine.  Calculated  for  dry  opium  the  morphine  varied 
between  12  and  14*3  per  cent. — Ephemeris,  No.  9,  p.  290-283. 
Hymenodictyon  excelsum,  Wallich;  Natural  order  Rubiacese. — The 
bitter  bark  of  this  East  Indian  tree  was  examined  in  1870  by  Brough- 
ton,  who  found  the  fresh  bark  to  contain  aesculin,  which  in  the  dry 
bark  was  converted  into  aesculetin,  the  bark  being  almost  tasteless. 
Recently  W.  A.  H.  Naylor  isolated  from  the  dry  bark  an  alkaloid 
which  seems  to  be  closely  allied  to  paricine,  differing  chiefly  in  con_ 
taining  more  hydrogen.  The  bark  was  mixed  with  milk  of  lime,  the 
mixture  dried,  exhausted  by  alcohol,  the  tincture  acidified  with  sul- 
phuric acid  and  the  alcohol  recovered  by  distillation.  The  residue 
was  treated  with  hot  water,  filtered,  and  the  filtrate  precipitated  with 
caustic  soda.  The  precipitate,  amounting  to  1*75  per  cent.,  was 
digested  in  a  limited  quantity  of  ether,  the  ether  residue  dissolved  in 
