Paullinia, in a wild state, grows to a height of from 10 to 12 metres (or about 36 to 40 feet), but its seeds are only used by the natives themselves. Those of the cultivated plant are reserved exclusively for the preparation of guarana intended for sale. The plant is propagated from the seed, but still better from cuttings of the plant. It produces fruit from the third year after planting, and after that period requires to be pruned, exactly as a vine. It flowers in July; the fruit is ripe in November. It will be remembered that these are the earliest months of spring in that latitude. The fruit, said to be scarcely larger than a walnut, contains five or six seeds. By careful cultivation, each stem will furnish four kilos., or about 9 lbs. of seed annually, and will live for forty years. The fruit of the plant cultivated in the neighbourhood of Mauhé is preferred. Topiriambaranas had for a long time the monopoly of the production of guarana, but subsequently it was found at Moxos and Chiquitos, and lastly at Villa Boa.

The Mauhées prepare it as follows: they remove the seeds from the capsules in November, and dry them in the rays of the sun. After having slightly roasted them over a charcoal fire, they reduce them to a fine powder in stone mortars, or in stones hollowed for the purpose; they then moisten the powder with a little water, and expose it to the dew by night. In this way they produce a hard paste, often increased in bulk by mixing seeds and fragments of seeds. They afterwards roll it into cylinders of 12 to 16 oz. each, rounded at each extremity.

These cylinders or rolls are dried in the sun or in the chimneys of their huts. They measure 10 to 20 centimetres (4 to 8 inches) in length, and 3 to 5 centimetres (or 1 to 2 inches) in breadth.

These cylinders are so hard that they have to be broken with an axe, or reduced to powder by means of a rasp. The different manipulations by which the mass is rendered hard, conduce to its preservation in a perfect state for many years. For exportation, the cylinders are enveloped in cocoa-nut leaves, and packed in baskets. It is in this form that the guarana appears in the European markets, though the samples sent from the Province of the Amazons to the Paris Exhibition resembled pineapples in form.

With reference to these cylinders, Professor Wiesner says, "At first sight one might think that the hard compact mass of the cylinders of guarana no longer possesses the organic structure of the seeds. It is not so. If we immerse a morsel of guarana in distilled water, the mass will give to the water a brownish colour, which changes to a kind of light pulp, from which the bulkier grains

separate. If this matter be spread out and examined by the microscope, it will be seen clearly that the grains and fractions of grains are nothing more than fragments of seeds, readily recognized by their alveolar texture, and that the earthy portion of the mass represents well-defined histological elements. Among all the samples that I have analyzed, I have not found one mixed with tapioca. It is, then, an error to suppose that that substance is necessary for the preparation of the mass of guarana.”

The sur

Guarana, when perfectly pure, has the appearance, when fractured, of a piece of mosaic work, generally of a darkish colour. face is of a shiny or greasy appearance, and the structure amygdaloid. In the middle of somewhat uniform masses are imbedded smaller morsels of two to three millimetres in diameter (in. to in.), of which some are of a darker, and others of a lighter shade than the mass itself. Almost all of these are covered over with a whitish

layer, not clearly definable. The substance is very hard and is crushed with difficulty in a mortar. The powder is of a bright brown or cinnamon colour, but with very little smell. But when it has been closely corked up for some time, or when it has been left a few instants in contact with the sides of a hot vessel, it acquires a peculiar odour. Heated slightly in the open air it has the smell and taste of roasted coffee. Guarana in a mass has the bitter styptic taste of the cocoa-berry; it softens in water, giving the liquid a brownish colour, while the insoluble portions lose little by little all their colour in the menstruum.

True guarana is distinguished from the inferior qualities by its greater hardness and specific gravity; the powder being of a reddish grey, whilst that of the sophisticated product is of a whiter appearance.

Guarana is for the Indians, at the same time, an indispensable aliment and a universal remedy. They live almost entirely on what is called "agua branca," a mixture of the powder and cold water, somewhat resembling chocolate. They reduce the mass to powder by means of a particular kind of fish bone or by sharp stones. The Indians have all the appearance of the freshness and vigour of those who live on animal food. They make use of it, medicinally prepared, with great success in the cases of diarrhoea and dysentery so frequent and so serious in their country; and in convalescent stages it is used as a tonic and stomachic.

The Brazilians and the civilized Indians learnt from the Mauhées the value of guarana, and at first bought it at very high prices. They employ it for the same purposes, modifying its bitter and

styptic taste by means of sugar. It is now to be found in several Pharmacopoeias, and is considered specially efficacious in cases of sick-headache.

Dechastilus has found in this plant the following substances: gum, starch, a resinous matter of a reddish-brown colour, a fatty oil coloured green by chlorophyll; tannin, colouring solutions of iron green; and a crystallizable substance possessing the chemical properties of caffeine.

More recent analyses, due to Trommsdorf, Petzholt, and Stenhouse, have shown that the crystallizable substance alluded to by Dechastilus is identical with the alkaloid of tea and coffee. These chemists have found in addition saponin, carbonates and phosphates of soda, potash, and lime. While tea contains but 06 to 2 per cent. and coffee 02 to 08 per cent. of caffeine, these chemists have found in guarana 4 to 4-28 per cent., and as much as 5 per cent., of this substance.

Trousseau gave guarana in quantities of 1 or 2 grams (15 to 30 grains), not all at once, but distributed into several doses. This dose, he says, is sufficient to remove the most severe headache. Recent trials have proved, however, that this quantity may be increased; two grams (30 grains) may be administered at once, and repeated in a couple of hours if necessary.

Esculus Pavia, Linn.-Red Buckeye. E. C. Batchelor. (Amer. Journ. Pharm., 4th series, iii., 145.) The author was led to the examination of this plant, which grows in the Southern States of America, in consequence of the numerous deaths among cattle which were attributed to their having partaken of it as food.

The results of his investigation, which are given in detail in the Amer. Journ. of Pharm., show that the plant contains several principles, among which is one termed by the author a peculiar glucoside, to which he attributes the poisonous effects of the plant when eaten. The symptoms exhibited by animals to whom a small quantity of this glucoside was given, were great uneasiness in fifteen minutes, stupor, starting and jerking of the muscles, protruding eyes, and frothing at the mouth. These symptoms, it will be seen, resemble those of poisoning by strychnia.

The following chemical reactions characterize this glucoside :

1. Sulphuric acid yields a rich yellow solution, which a drop of water changes to reddish-purple; on heating, purple flocks are deposited, and the liquid exhales the odour of fatty acids. Upon cooling, the colour changes to a beautiful dark purple.

2. Its solution in aqueous alkalies does not solidify when warmed.

3. Its aqueous solution is not precipitated by acetate or subacetate of lead.

4. It is freely soluble in water, making a frothy solution, which is acid to litmus. Insoluble in ether and chloroform, soluble in alcohol.

5. It is not precipitated from its aqueous solutions by baryta water.

MELIACEÆ.

Chemical Examination of the Bark of the Azadirachta Indica. J. Broughton. (Pharm. Journ., 3rd series, iii., 992.) The use of the bark of this well known tree, generally called the Nim tree, is quite general throughout India as a tonic and febrifuge. The taste of the bark is intensely bitter, as is also that of the leaves, though these latter are not used medicinally except as an external poultice to prevent glandular swellings from coming to maturity. The seeds yield a considerable amount of oil, which has also a strong, bitter taste, and is used for lamps and in medicine. The roots are said to have vermifuge properties, but the main virtues of the tree reside in the bark.

The bitter principle is due to a resin, which it is very difficult to obtain in a state of purity. The author succeeded in obtaining a nitro-compound, which yielded a silver salt, not however crystalline, from which he ascribes to the resin the formula, Cs6 H50 011, that of the nitro-compound being C3, H46 (NO)4 011. The resin is not, therefore, an alkaloid, as it contains no nitrogen. If required for medicinal purposes, the most suitable and convenient mode of administration would be an alcoholic solution of the resin.

The leaves also contain a bitter principle, more readily soluble in water, the bark also contains this in addition to the resin already described. It has similar properties to the resin, of which it is an hydrate. No peculiar alkaloid is contained in the leaves. The powerful smell of the tree is well known, but it is not due to the presence of a sulphuretted oil as has been surmised. A condensed account of the therapeutics and chemistry of the Azadirachta Indica is to be found in the Indian Pharmacopoeia, from which, however, the author differs in some points.

GERANIACEÆ.

Indian Oil of Geranium. By O. Jacobsen. (L'Union Pharmaceutique, xiii., 231.) According to Gladstone the essence of geranium is a mixture of several compounds which are difficult to

separate by distillation. Jacobsen has found that this essence sometimes contains copper as well as alcohol or an oxygenated fixed oil added fraudulently; but that it is nearly entirely formed of a compound (C20 H18 O2), boiling at 232-253° C., which he has named geraniol.

Geraniol is a very refractive colourless liquid, inactive upon polarized light, insoluble in water, miscible with alcohol and ether; its odour recalls that of the rose. It does not solidify at 15° C., alters but slowly in the air, and at 15° C. has a density of 0.855. Treated with fused potash it yields valerianic acid. A mixture of bichromate of potash and sulphuric acid furnishes with this essence valerianic acid and succinic acid. Nitric acid, sp. gr. 12, attacks it energetically and gives rise to several products.

The formula of geraniol, C20 H18 O2, shows that it is a body isomeric with Borneo camphor, or borneol, as well as with certain principles contained in the essential oils of cajeput, hop, coriander, and Osmiotopsis acteriscoides. This relation gives a special interest to the following reactions :

Acids combine with geraniol, with elimination of water, yielding ethers corresponding to those produced with borneol. Hydrochloric ether (C20 H17 CI), which is formed by the action of gaseous hydrochloric acid upon geraniol, is liquid, yellowish, and has a camphoraceous and aromatic odour. The author has also obtained the bromide, iodide, cyanide, sulphocyanide, valerianate, cinnamate, and benzoate. He has also prepared the hydric ether, C40 H34 Og, by heating in a water-bath the geraniol with alcoholic potash. It is a colourless liquid, rather lighter than water, with an odour of mint, and boils at 187° to 190° C.

When geraniol is treated with chloride of zinc, a carbide of hydrogen is formed, C20 H16, liquid, colourless, of a characteristic odour, boiling at 162° to 164° C., sp. gr. 0·842 at 20° C., oxidizing rapidly in contact with air, without action upon polarized light, and furnishing a crystalline hydrochlorate.

CANELLACEÆ.

Canellæ Albæ Cortex. Microscopical Characters. H. Pocklington. (Pharm. Journ., 3rd series, iii., 702.) It requires a little care to secure a perfect section of this bark, on account of the ease with which certain cells on the exterior tear away from the softer cells beneath; but if the cutting be from the outer surface inwards, this source of difficulty is reduced to a minimum. The usual reagents are used, with the additional use of the B,P. solution of