520 
Notes  on  Cinchona  Bark. 
/Am. Jour  Pharm. 
I      Oct.,  1883. 
glucose,  we  made  four  experiments  with  solutions  of  this  strength;  and 
obtained  substantially  the  same  results  as  before. 
All  the  solutions  in  the  sealed  tubes  were  found  to  be  perfectly 
bright,  and  free  from  fungoid  growths,  as  were  those  in  the  tubes 
]>lugged  with  coUon-wool  and  exposed  to  daylight.  On  the  other 
hand,  all  the  solutions  open  to  the  air  contained  white  matter  at  the 
bottom  of  the  tube  and  fungoid  filaments  in  the  liquid.  In  the  tubes 
that  were  plugged  with  cotton-wool,  but  kept  in  the  dark,  a  smaller 
quantity  of  white  matter — about  a  millimetre  in  diameter — was  found 
at  the  bottom  of  the  liquid  in  each  case.  A  microscopical  examination 
of  the  white  matter  was  kindly  made  by  Dr.  Lionel  Beale,  who 
reported  that  "  the  fluid  contained  abundant  evidence  of  living  organ- 
isms— micrococci,  bacteroid  bodies,  and  mycelial  filaments." 
It  would  appear  then  that  light  is  detrimental  to  development 
of  fungoid  growths  in  a  solution  of  cane-sugar  exposed  to  atmospheric 
air. — Jour.  Ghem.  Soc,  Aug.,  1883,  p.  341. 
NOTES  ON  CINCHONA  BARK. 
By  David  Howard. 
A  curious  evidence  of  the  singular  scientific  acumen  shown  by  the 
late  Mr.  Mclvor  in  working  out  his  process  for  renewing  cinchona 
bark  is  given  by  some  of  the  samples  of  "  renewed  "  C.  suocirubra  bark 
which  reach  us  from  Ceylon. 
As  is  well  known,  in  Mr.  Mclvor's  process,  alternate  strips  of  the 
bark  were  removed  down  to  the  cambium,  and  the  tree  wrapped  round 
with  moss.  The  bark  then  renews  over  the  whole  surface,  the  new 
bark  consisting  almost  entirely  of  cellular  tissue,  the  total  alkaloid 
being  increased,  and  the  cinchonidiue  giving  place  to  quinine. 
The  renewed "  bark  to  Avhich  I  call  attention,  on  the  other  hand, 
shows  a  totally  different  structure;  there  is  a  mere  skin  of  cellular 
tissue,  the  remainder  being  remarkably  fibrous. 
The  explanation  is  not  far  to  seek,  tlie  shaving  process  recommended 
by  M.  Moens  as  a  substitute  for  Mr.  Mclvor's  process  gives  good  results 
just  in  proportion  as  it  imitates  the  latter  process.  If  the  cut  is  suffi- 
ciently deep  to  cause  the  efPusion  of  new  bark,  if  I  may  so  call  it,  the 
result  both  in  quantity  and  quality  of  the  renewed  bark  closely  resem- 
bles that  yielded  by  the  stripping  process. 
