522  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference,    l^"^' ^^ll^o'"^- 
remain  unprovided  for.  Possibly  some  conjoint  action  of  members  of  the  medical 
profession  and  representatives  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  might  be  devised  that 
would  ensure  that  prescribers  ordering  new  preparations  would  have  their  wishes 
carried  out,  and  that  at  the  same  time  dispensers  should  be  at  no  loss  to  ascertain 
what  those  wishes  were.  At  any  rate  the  question  is  one  that  deserves  attentive  con- 
sideration on  both  sides. 
In  a  paper  on  the  Culti'vation  of  Calisaya  Mr.  J.  E.  Howard  described  compara- 
tively the  conditions  under  which  this  tree  is  grown  for  the  production  of  cinchona 
bark  in  Java,  Ceylon,  the  continent  of  India  and  South  America,  and  brought  for- 
ward statements  of  various  authorities  to  show  the  extent  to  which  the  supply  of 
rich  qulnia  yielding  bark  might  be  expected  to  increase.  As  introductory  to  this, 
Mr.  Howard  described  the  examination  of  a  small  tree  of  Calisaya  Anglica,  which 
had  been  killed  by  canker  in  his  conservatory,  after  attaining  in  eight  years  a  height 
of  seven  or  eight  feet.  He  considers  the  source  of  mischief  to  have  been  situated 
in  the  root,  but  was  not  able  to  learn  anything  very  definite  respecting  it.  In  Java 
where  the  Ledger'tana  grows  so  well  and  yields  such  rich  bark  there  is  no  canker 
but  it  appears  that  there  are  few  parts  of  Cevlon  where  this  tree  can  be  grown  so  as 
to  yield  bark  so  rich  in  alkaloids,  while  on  the  Neilgherries  the  bark  is  of  excellent 
quality  and  commands  a  high  price,  although  the  trees  grow  bushy  and  spindly.  In 
Bolivia,  again,  where  calisaya  has  been  cultivated  in  its  native  locality,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Mr.  Ledger,  within  the  last  thirty  years  excellent  results  have  been 
obtained.  Mr.  Howard^  however,  thinks  that  none  of  this  bark,  as  imported  into 
London,  had  the  appearance,  or  was  so  rich  in  alkaloid  as  the  true  Ledgeriana,  pos- 
sibly in  consequence  of  the  seed  not  having  been  selected  with  such  skill  as  that 
collected  by  Mr.  Ledger's  servant  Manuel.  For  this  reason,  therefore,  the  cultivation 
of  calisaya  in  Bolivia  cannot  be  expected  to  yield  such  remarkable  results  as  it  has 
done  in  Java  especially.  The  same  circum'^tance  also  points  to  the  importance  of 
selecting  superior  sorts  in  establishing  or  extending  plantations  in  I^^dia.  Effectual 
drainage  and  high  cultivation  are  also  essential  conditions  to  be  provided  for.  In 
Ceylon  as  in  Java  it  has  been  found  that  the  Ledgeriana  surpasses  all  other  kinds  in 
yielding  bark  containing  a  large  amount  of  quinia.  On  the  whole,  therefore,  Mr. 
Howard  thinks  that  true  calisaya,  as  introduced  by  Mr.  Ledger,  will  continue  to 
assert  its  supremacy  there  as  elsewhere.  But  he  also  points  out  that,  according  ta 
Mr.  Mclvoi,  Ceylon  is  wanting  in  the  deep  rich  soils  to  be  found  in  India,  and  that 
since,  according  to  the  same  authority,  cinchonas  are  very  liable  to  canker  when  the 
roots  get  down  to  the  subsoil,  there  is  for  this  reason  less  promise  of  future  results  in 
Ceylon  than  there  is  on  the  Neilgherries. 
It  is  indeed  to  this  cause  that  Mr.  Howard  ascribes  the  death  of  the  calisaya  tree 
grown  in  his  greenhouse,  and  perhaps  it  is  not  going  too  far  to  infer  that  Mr. 
Howard's  mention  of  the  death  of  that  tree,  and  his  conjecture  as  to  the  cause  of  it, 
may  be  intended  to  operate  in  some  degree  as  a  check  upon  the  enthusiastic  expec- 
tations entertained  as  to  the  future  results  of  the  cultivation  of  calisaya  in  Ceylon. 
In  reference  to  these  prospects  M.  Howard  quotes  the  calculations  of  Mr.  Dobree, 
published  in  the  *'  Ceylon  Observer"  of  last  June,  which  point  to  an  annual  production 
of  about  ten  million  pounds  of  bark  in  about  5  years'  time,  and  predict  that  the  total 
production  of  cinchona  bark  will  in  1885  exceed  the  total  demand  in  1876-78  by 
nearly  eleven  million  pounds.  Mr.  Howard  thinks  these  calculations  far  too  san- 
guine even  as  regards  quantity,  and  in  any  case,  he  thinks  that  one  feature  more 
likely  to  become  manifest  in  1885  is  that  the  representatives  of  quinia  manufacturers 
attending  the  sale  rooms  at  that  time  will  distinguish  with  the  pencil-note  rubbish" 
many  of  the  consignments  of  Cevlon  bark. 
Closely  connected  with  the  subject  of  the  foregoing  paper  was  the  exhibition,  by 
Dr.  Paul,  of  a  peculiar  kind  of  cinchona  bark,  with  the  object  of  showing  that  it  is 
now  no  longer  possible  to  arrive  even  at  an  approximate  conclusion  as  to  the  value 
of  a  sample  of  bark  from  a  mere  visual  examination.  Leaving  out  of  account  the 
fact  that  the  officinalis,  or  crown  bark  now  coming  from  India,  contains  a  large 
amount  of  quinia,  while  that  hitherto  known  as  "  crown  bark,"  or  "  Loxa  bark," 
from  South  America  seldom  contains  much,  if  any  5  it  is  also  to  be  noted  that 
