AmMa°rch,?8h92.rm'}  False  Angustura  Bark.  115 
senior  students,  for  the  estimation  of  the  polygalic  acid.  He  used 
Quevenne's  process,  and  obtained  of  the  pure  acid  3  5  per  cent. 
Methyl  salicylate  was  abundant,  as  shown  by  the  ferric  chloride  test. 
It  would  seem  from  the  above  that  this  specimen  handed  to  me 
by  Prof.  Dyche  represented  a  good  sample  of  senega  ;  its  quality, 
equal  to  the  average  root  of  the  market. 
I  have  planted  some  of  the  roots,  which  seem  to  be  full  of  vigor, 
and  hope  to  be  able  at  some  future  time  to  classify  the  plant. 
FALSE  ANGUSTURA  BARK. 
By  W.  J.  Smythe. 
The  substitution  of  the  bark  from  a  species  of  strychnos  as  well 
as  other  barks  for  the  bark  of  the  true  angustura  (Galipea  Cusparia) 
has  frequently  occurred,  and  authorities  have  repeatedly  called 
attention  to  it,  but  within  the  last  few  years  apparently  but  little 
of  it  has  been  practised.  This  may  be  to  some  extent  due  to  the 
fact  that  a  number  of  our  standard  books  of  reference  supply  a 
description  of  the  false  barks  as  well  as  a  number  of  chemical  tests 
whereby  the  true  bark  may  be  distinguished  from  the  others,  thus 
making  the  sophistication  comparatively  easy  to  detect.  None  of 
the  literature  which  I  have  been  able  to  consult  on  this  subject 
contained  any  reference  to  the  percentage  of  alkaloid  or  alkaloids 
contained  in  the  false  (strychnos)  bark.  So  that  the  results  which 
I  obtained  from  the  assay  of  a  specimen  of  the  strychnos  bark, 
which  a  short  time  ago  was  placed  in  my  hands  for  assay  under 
the  supposition  that  it  was  a  specimen  of  the  true  angustura  bark, 
may  prove  of  interest,  especially  as  the  percentage  of  the  total 
alkaloids  was  so  very  high. 
The  specimen  was  in  the  form  of  a  coarse  powder  of  a  brownish 
red  appearance  and  devoid  of  the  aromatic  odor  usually  met  with 
in  the  true  angustura.  The  taste  was  intensely  bitter  and  entirely 
different  from  that  of  the  true  bark.  From  the  condition  of  the 
specimen  botanical  identification  was  of  course  out  of  the  question. 
The  very  bitter  taste  at  once  suggested  that  the  bark  was  of  the 
false  variety,  and  a  few  preliminary  tests  corroborated  this.  For 
the  determination  of  the  alkaloids,  the  following  methods  were 
employed  : 
(A)  Five  grams  of  the  ground  drug  were  macerated  with  100  cc. 
