12  2  Some  Physical  Properties  of  ^inia.  {  '''^■JZ'^llr^ ' 
and  it  seems  as  If  it  might  be  worked  into  good,  fine  thread  of  any 
size.  It  goes  by  various  names  in  different  parts  of  India.  The  fibres, 
which  are  from  five  to  ten  feet  long,  are  harsh,  and  more  remarkable 
for  strength  than  fineness,  but  might  be  improved  by  care.  It  is  as 
much  cultivated  for  the  sake  of  its  leaves  as  its  fibres,  which  former 
are  acidulous  and  eaten  by  the  natives.  The  bark  of  Hibiscus furcatus^ 
a  very  prickly  plant,  yields  abundance  of  strong  white  fibre,  but  not  so 
tough  and  tenacious  as  the  hemp-like  Hibiscus.  The  shoe  flower  plant 
or  China  rose  {Hibiscus  rosa  sinensis^  is  a  shrub  twelve  to  fifteen  feet 
high.  In  China  they  make  its  handsome  flowers  into  garlands  and 
festoons,  on  all  occasions  of  festivity  and  even  in  their  sepulchral  rites. 
The  astringent  petals  of  the  flowers  are  used  for  blacking  shoes,  and 
the  women  also  employ  them  to  color  their  hair  and  eyebrows  black  ; 
they  are  also  eaten  by  the  natives  as  pickles.  The  flowers  are  used  to 
tinge  spirituous  liquors,  ai:d  the  petals  when  rubbed  on  paper  com- 
municate a  bluish-purple  tint,  which  forms  an  excellent  substitute  for 
litmus  paper,  as  a  chemical  test.  The  leaves  are  considered  in  Cochin 
China  as  emollient  and  slightly  aperient.  The  bark  furnishes,  a  beauti- 
ful bast,  strong,  white  and  flexible.  Ala  hoe  fibre  is  obtained  from  the 
Hibiscus  elatus  of  Linnaeus,  the  Thespesia  populnea  of  Correa.  The 
Hibiscus  trilobus^  Sev.,  furnishes  a  good  brownish  flax.  The  Malvaceae 
family  is  perhaps  one  of  those  which  furnishes  the  most  and  best  fibre. 
— your,  of  Applied  Science^  Feb.^  1875. 
SOME  PHYSICAL  PROPERTIES  OF  QUINIA.- 
BY  JULES  REGNAULD. 
Several  chemists  have  during  recent  years  published  the  results  of 
their  experiments  upon  the  solubility  of  the  salts  of  quinia,  and  they 
have  specially  occupied  themselves  with  the  substitution  of  the  ordinary 
sulphate  of  quinia  by  a  compound  more  soluble  in  water  and  better 
adapted  for  hypodermic  use.  The  author  proposes  to  test  the  correct- 
ness of  the  frequently  discordant  statements  by  means  of  well-defined 
salts  prepared  by  himself  from  perfectly  pure  quinia.  In  the  present 
preliminary  note  he  treats  of  the  solubility  of  the  free  alkaloid  in  water, 
alcohol,  chloroform  and  sulphuric  ether. 
Solubility  in  Water. — Pelletier  and  Caventou,  in  their  ^'Analyse 
chimique  des  Quinquinas,"  say  simply,  "  Boiling  water  dissolves  about 
■^"Journal  de  Pharmacie  et  de  Chimie  "  [4],  vol.  xxi,  p.  g. 
