BEBEERU TREE AND SULPHATE OF BEBEERINE. 201 
limited quantity of his concentrated solution, and he could 
send only a very small supply at the time I applied to him ; 
but when the value of this remedy has become more generally 
known, it will gradually find its way into practice; and the 
bark prepared and packed in Guiana should be sent home, in 
order to have the bebeerine manufactured properly, and in 
sufficient quantity in our laboratories. At present the tree is 
only felled for the value of the timber, and thousands of tons 
of the bark are annually destroyed. 
Mr. Rodie found so much difficulty in crystallizing the 
sulphate of bebeerine, that he has hitherto prepared it for use 
in solution with a little excess of acid; and twenty minims of 
this solution is a sufficient dose. It has now been pretty gene- 
rally distributed throughout the West Indian colonies, and 
before I left Demarara, I sent to Sir James M'Gregor, a 
small box of what was delivered to me, which he has kindly 
said he will distribute to the different stations of our army, in 
order to ascertain its effects. 
I am convinced that, as a febrifuge, it is far superior to any 
we as yet possess, and with regard to what has already been 
proved with the ordinary barks, we find that quinine is more 
powerful as a febrifuge than cinchonine, in the proportion in 
which it is less easily crystallized, so bebeerine as being still 
less cystallizable than quinine, is found to be more efficacious 
as a remedy in febrile diseases. 
JS din burg Med. and Surg. Journ. 
VOL. II. — NO. III. 
26 
