Am.  Jour.  Pharm, 
Aug.,  1880, 
Commercial  ^inia  Sulphate, 
423 
Microscopic  Structure. — The  rhizome  consists  of  a  delicate  paren- 
chyma, most  of  the  cells  of  which  are  loaded  with  large  ovoid  starch 
grains;  a  few  contain  a  yellowish  resin  and  esential  oil.  The  epidermis 
is  composed  of  several  rows  of  compressed,  nearly  empty  reddish-brown 
cells.  From  the  unaltered  condition  of  the  starch  it  appears  that  the 
rhizomes  are  not  exposed  to  heat. 
Commerce. — The  Indian  drug  is  said  to  be  imported  from  the  Mal- 
abar coast.  The  other  kind  comes  from  the  Chinese  ports.  Value, 
Chinese,  Rs.  4J  per  maund  of  37 J  pounds;  Indian,  Rs.  5.  The 
Arabs  and  Persians  are  the  chief  consumers. 
Kampferia  rotunda.  Linn.    Amomace^  bhuichampa  of  India. 
This  does  not  yield  any  of  the  zedoaries  of  commerce.  It  is  com- 
monly cultivated  in  gardens  on  account  of  the  beauty  and  fragrance  of 
its  flowers,  which  appear  in  the  hot  weather  before  the  leaves  spring 
up.  The  fresh  tubers  are  pounded,  and  applied  by  the  natives  to 
wounds,  bruises  and  swellings.  The  root  consists  of  several  central, 
almost  gloublar  rhizomes,  from  which  proceed  numerous  thick,  fleshy 
rootlets,  all  of  which  terminate  in  small  round  tubers.  The  substance 
of  the  rhizomes  is  of  a  pale  straw  color,  and  has  a  bitter,  pungent, 
camphoraceous  taste,  much  like  that  of  the  true  zedoary. — Pharm. 
Journ.  and  Trans, ^  April  17,  1880. 
THE  TESTING  OF  COMMERCIAL  QUINIA  SULPHATE. 
The  vast  importance  of  quinia  as  a  remedial  agent,  surpassing  as  it 
does  that  of  almost  all  other  medicines,  is  now  so  generally  acknowl- 
edged that  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  considerable  attention  directed  to 
the  means  by  which  the  purity  of  the  salt  most  frequently  met  is  to  be 
ascertained.  Some  years  ago  there  was  published  in  this  journal  a 
description  of  a  method  for  testing  sulphate  of  quinia  devised  by  Dr. 
G.  Kerner,  and  based  upon  the  differences  existing  between  the  solu- 
bilities of  the  sulphates  of  cinchona  alkaloids  in  water  and  between 
the  solubilities  of  the  several  alkaloids  in  dilute  solution  of  ammonia. 
That  method  of  testing  was  a  great  improvement  upon  the  test 
recommended  by  Zimmer  and  Liebig,  based  upon  the  differences  in 
the  solubility  of  quinia  and  other  cinchona  alkaloids  in  ether  j  it  was 
on  that  account  adopted  in  the  German  Pharmacopoeia,  but  has  not 
yet  received  further  official  recognition.  The  consequence  has  been 
that  the  results  obtained  in  testing  sulphate  of  quinia  as  to  purity  have 
