20 
Goto  Barks, 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1880. 
had  announced  some  time  ago  that  cinchonia,  under  the  influence  of 
alkalies,  was  decomposed  into  chinolin  and  a  solid  compound,  which 
subsequently  on  decomposition  yielded  ethyl-pyridin.  From  this  was- 
drawn  the  conclusion  that  cinchonia  contained  both  the  chinolin  and 
the  pyridin  grouping.  They  had  also  shown  that  quinia,  under  the 
same  treatment,  yielded  a  base  similar  but  not  identical  with  chinolin, 
and  a  second  compound  corresponding  to  the  ethyl-pyridin.  They 
therefore  thought  it  probable  that  the  difference  between  quinia  and 
cinchonia  lay  in  the  difference  in  the  chinolin  grouping,  and  that  the 
oxygen  atom,  by  which  the  two  compounds  differ,  is  in  the  chinolin 
group.  They  have  now  prepared  this  base,  and  find  it  to  contain 
oxygen.  The  free  base  boils  at  280°,  under  partial  decomposition.  Its- 
composition  appears  to  be  Cj^HgNO.  This  differs  from  lepidin  only 
by  an  atom  of  oxygen.  Its  solution,  and  the  solution  of  its  salts,  show 
decided  blue  fluorescence.  The  authors  will  continue  their  study  of 
this  base. — Ber.  Chem.  Ges.^  xii.,  p.  2093,  St.  Petersburg  Corresp. 
ON  THE  GOTO  BARKS  AND  THEIR  CHARACTERISTIC 
CONSTITUENTS, 
By  Jul.  Jobst  and  O.  Hesse. 
Abstract  of  a  reprint  from  "Liebig's  Annalen,"  vol.  1 99,  p.  17-96.  Communicated 
by  the  authors. 
The  investigations  concerning  coto  bark,  made  by  Wittstein,  Hartz 
and  vcn  Gietl,  have  been  previously  reported  C-'Amer.  Jour.  Pharm.,'* 
1875,  p.  541);  also  the  results  of  the  chemical  investigation  by  Jobst 
of  true  coto  bark,  and  of  a  similar  bark,  named  paracoto  bark  by  the 
authors  {ibid.^  1876,  p.  352,  1877,  P-  7°)-  Brazil   the  bark  of 
Palicurea  densiflora,  Mart.^  nat.  ord.,  Rubiaceae,  is  known  as  coto-coto ; 
but  the  origin  of  the  two  Bolivian  barks,  of  which  the  paracoto  bark 
is  collected  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Mapiri,  has  not  been  ascertained. 
Coto  bark  is  met  with  in  flat  or  slightly  curved  pieces,  either  irregu- 
laily  broken  or  0*6  meter  long,  60  millimeters  wide  and  from  8  to 
millimeters  thick.  It  is  deprived  of  the  corky  layer,  of  which  occa- 
sionally small  patches  remain,  and  has  a  reddish  cinnamon  color,  darker 
upon  the  inner  surface,  and  an  agreeable  odor,  somewhat  cinnamon- 
like, which,  on  bruising  the  bark,  is  more  powerful  and  strongly  ster- 
nutatory.   The  taste  is  biting,  but  neither  bitter,  mucilaginous  or 
