312 
Cantkarides. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1879. 
under  different  forms,  especially  distinguished  by  the  color  of  the 
leaves,  but  agreeing  in  the  production  of  a  large  amount  of  very  pure 
quinia.  The  flowers  appear  in  South  America  to  be  very  sensitive 
to  frost,  but  they  are  abundantly  fertile  under  favorable  circumstances  ; 
20,000  plants  were  raised  by  Van  Gorkom  and  60,000  by  Mclvor 
from  the  one  bag  above  described.  The  climate  at  Ootacamund  did 
not  suit.  Nevertheless,  some  of  the  trees,  though  stunted  and  mostly 
perishing,  have  produced  excellent  bark.  The  reason  why  it  is  not 
more  largely  sent  into  Europe  is,  I  understand,  that  in  Java  they  are 
wisely  thinning  out  the  inferior  trees  and  allowing  the  best  to  develop 
themselves.  In  British  India,  on  the  contrary,  I  am  afraid  many  of 
the  best  "  succirubra  "  and  "  officinalis  "  trees  are  being  cut  down.  I 
thus  send  for  the  information  of  your  readers  a  few  facts  which  may  be 
of  interest,  and  in  conclusion  must  express  my  regret  that  those  who 
have  toiled  and  suffered  in  introducing  these  valuable  trees  into  India 
should  have  been  so  ill  rewarded.  Ledger  lost  his  time  and  his  ser- 
vants, and  yet  both  the  British  and  Dutch  governments  refuse  him  the 
slightest  compensation  for  his  losses. — Pharm.  Jour,  and  Trans,  [Lond.], 
March  13,  1880. 
NOTE  ON  CANTHARIDES.^ 
By  Henry  G.  Greenish. 
In  the  autumn  of  last  year,  a  sample  of  cantharides  was  handed  to 
Professor  DragendorfF,  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Institute,  by  a  chemist  of 
this  town,  with  the  remark  that  he  had  not  succeeded  in  preparing  an 
active  Drouott's  plaster  from  the  flies,  and  doubted,  therefore,  their 
good  quality. 
I  willingly  acceded  to  Professor  DragendorfF's  request  to  determine 
quantitatively  the  amount  of  cantharides  in  the  sample,  and,  in  doing 
so,  followed  the  method  indicated  by  him  in  Die  chemische  Werth- 
besrimmung  einiger  starkwirkender  Droguen,"^  which  is  briefly  as 
follows : 
25  to  30  grams  of  the  powdered  flies  are  freed  from  oil  by  treatment 
with  petroleum  ether.  Cantharidin,  being  not  insoluble  in  petroleum 
ether,  a  correction  must  be  made  in  the  amount  of  cantharidin  found 
to  compensate  for  the  loss  incurred  by  treatment  with  this  solvent, 
^  Read  at  an  evening  meeting  of  tlie  Pliarmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain, 
March  3,  1880. 
-St.  Petersburg,  1874. 
