Curare-Sources in French Guiana.-In a letter to Mr. Leroy de Mericourt, Dr. J. Crévaux inclosed the photograph of a plant called, like its extract, ourari, and expresses the belief that in this we have

the real poison, for the juice of the root, steeped in brandy, produced on various animals absolutely the same effects as the curare heretofore known. Dr. Crévaux, who explored the rivers "Yari" and "Paru,"

or "Parou," in 1876-77, and again in 1878-79, has witnessed the preparation of the "ourari" by the Indian tribes inhabiting the upper part of the "Yari" river region in French Guiana. The poison is principally derived from the juice extracted from the root of the ourari plant. To this extract are added the juices of other plants that have no poisonous properties (as was proved by experiments on men and animals). To prepare the poison, the Indians soak the root, remove the bark with a knife, and press out the juice with their hands. This juice, with the addition of other unimportant ingredients (pepper among others), is very gently heated and dried in the sun. The juice of the root is very bitter, and stains the hands brown like tincture of iodine; it can be handled with impunity, provided one has no scratches.

The plant has been determined to be a new kind of strychnos, to which the name of

FIG. 51.

Strychnos Crevauxii has been given. It is a climber, growing to the height of forty or forty-five meters. The trunk bears numerous branches (Fig. 50), provided, at intervals, with spirally twisted tendrils, thickened somewhat at their ends. The smaller branches are covered with short yellow hairs. The leaves, of moderate thickness, coriaceous, are from five to eight centimeters long, elliptical, lanceolate, short taper-pointed, generally provided with a short petiole of four or five millimeters. The upper surface is glabrous and shining; the lower, dull, also glabrous, except the, stronger veins, which have hairs sparsely attached. From the lower end of the middle vein two well-defined small veins arise and follow the edges, and at a certain height two others, more strongly marked, curve toward the point. The inflorescence (Fig. 51) is axillary, much shorter than the leaves, with opposite bracts, carrying small pedicelled flowers. The flowers (Figs. 52 and 53) have a calyx with five lanceolate sepals, a funnel-shaped corolla, much longer than the calyx, forming five petals, which are turned backwards and outwards, and are covered on their internal surface with

Inflorescence.

whitish hairs; five stamens with adnate anthers. The ovule is globular, surmounted by a long style, slightly dilated, and bilobed at the top.

One rather curious peculiarity of this species is the existence of small branchlets, more or less forked, very slender, which often appear at the axis of the leaves. The stem of these branchlets, as well as the

small opposite leaflets, which are but two or three millimeters long, are covered with little curved hairs.

After a description of the root and stem, parts of which were sent with the plant, Mr. Planchon, who communicates the above, reviews the various curares, as follows:

So far as our present knowledge extends, there are four different sections of Northern South America where curare is prepared, and in each of these sections a different kind of Strychnos is used as,the source of the poison. These four sections, from west to east, are the following:

1. The region of the Upper Amazon, the largest of all, comprising the rivers Solimoens, Javiri, Iça, and Yapura. It furnishes the curare

of the Ticunas, Pebas, Yaguas, and Oregones. This is prepared from Strychnos Castelnaana, Wedd.

2. The region of the Upper Orinoco to the Rio Negro. This contains the district visited by Humboldt in 1800. It furnishes the curare of the Maquiritaras and Piaroas, which is derived from Strychnos Gubleri.

3. The region of British Guiana, furnishing the curare of the Macusis, Orecumas, and Wapisianas. This is derived from Strychnos toxifera, Schomb., including Str. Schomburgkii, K., and Str. cogens, Benth.

4. The region of Upper French Guiana (Upper Paru) furnishing the curare of the Trios and Roucouyennes, which is derived from Str. Crevauxii, Baill., described above.-New Rem., January, 1881, pp. 1-3, from Jour, de Phar. et de Chim., July, 1880.

Mr. Montague Flint gives an account of the circumstances attending the preparation of "urare" or "wourali" by the Macusis of the Canuca Mountains, which, extracted from the "Lancet," will be found in the same number of " New Rem." (p. 3). The author's description differs considerably from that given by others.

Nerium Odorum-Constituents. -No attempt having as yet been made to isolate the active principle of the sweet-scented oleander, much cultivated in India for the sake of its flowers, and where its poisonous properties are well-known, Mr. Henry G. Greenish has subjected the root to chemical examination. It consisted of pieces, varying in thickness of a goose-quill to over an inch in diameter, the majority three-eighths to five-eighths of an inch. Externally, the bark presents a grayish, wrinkled appearance. On removing the outer layer, the inner is seen to be yellowish green in color. The wood is soft, easily cut, and possesses the same yellowish-gray color as the bark. The latter, which is of medium thickness, and adheres tolerably firmly to the wood, is remarkable for its intensely bitter taste, which in the wood is hardly noticeable. Under the microscope, a transverse section showed the bark to be composed of an external layer of about ten rows of cork cells, followed by parenchymatous tissue, traversed longitudinally by numerous laticiferous vessels, still containing in many instances the dried latex. On the longitudinal section, the course of the laticiferous vessels may be easily traced, especially after treatment of the section with iodine and chloride of zinc. By this means the parenchymatous cells are colored blue, whilst the dried latex absorbs iodine and renders itself so more evident by its yellow color. Bast fibres are not present. Between the wood and bark is seen the cambium layer with its thin-walled cells. The wood consists of the usual elements, viz., wood-cells and vessels. They are somewhat thin-walled and of small diameter. Single rows of narrow parenchymatous cells (medullary rays), loaded with starch-grains, traverse the wood from the centre to the circumference. The absence of pith shows the drug to be a root. By treatment of the longitudinal section with iodine and chloride of zinc, numerous sieve-cells in the inner bark are brought to light, which otherwise easily escape observation. Crystals of oxalate of calcium are numerous. Both the bark and the wood contain two glucosides, named by the author

Neriodorin and neriodorëin respectively. Neriodorëin was obtained. in the form of a pale yellow, amorphous powder, having an intensely bitter taste, followed by a numbing sensation lasting a considerable time. It is insoluble in petroleum spirit, ether, benzol, chloroform, bisulphide of carbon, amylic alcohol, and acetic ether, both warm and cold, but is easily soluble in both cold water and alcohol. The aqueous solution possesses a neutral reaction. It contains no nitrogen, and when burnt on platinum leaves only a trace of ash. Neriodorin was obtained in the form of a clear, yellow, tenacious, varnish-like mass, which, after long standing over sulphuric acid, was not brittle enough to allow of its being powdered. It was easily soluble in chloroform, very difficultly in cold water, more easily in boiling water, imparting to

both hot and cold water its intensely bitter taste. Petroleum spirit, benzol, and bisulphide of carbon did not dissolve it; ether dissolved only traces. In alcohol it was tolerably readily soluble.

Both principles, when heated with 2 per cent. hydrochloric acid, are converted into resin-like bodies, and the aqueous filtrate contains glucose. When heated with lime-water and evaporated to dryness, they lose their bitter taste. Both possess the character of powerful cardiac poisons, and will be the subject of further investigation.-Pharm. Jour. and Trans., April 23d, 1881, pp. 873-875.

Quebracho-Bark-Identification.-Mr. G. Fraude communicates the following method for recognizing true Quebracho-bark (from Aspidosperma Quebracho). Boil 5 grams of the finely cut bark with about 25 cc. of coal-tar benzin of very low boiling-point, for about five minutes, filter hot, and shake the scarcely colored filtrate with about 10 cc. of dilute sulphuric acid. The aqueous solution, containing sulphate of aspidospermin, after being separated from the benzin, is treated with ammonia in excess, and shaken with 10 cc. of ether. The ethereal solution is evaporated in a test-tube and the residue boiled with perchloric acid. In case the latter is not at hand, a little water and 3 or 4 drops of sulphuric acid are added to the residue, then a very minute quantity of chlorate of potassium, and the whole boiled. In either case a handsome intense fuchsin-like coloration will ensue, which is characteristic of the alkaloid (aspidospermin) contained in the bark. From Ber. d. Deutsch. Chem. Gaz., 1881, p. 319; in New Rem., June, 1881, p. 184.

SAPOTACEÆ.

Gutta percha-Purification.—The following method is given in the "Chem. Zeitg." (No. 3, 1880): The gutta-percha is dissolved in boiling benzol and treated with finely-levigated gypsum. This carries down all the impurities. The decanted liquid is then mixed with twice its volume of 90 per cent. alcohol, observing to stir continuously during the addition, whereby the gutta-percha is precipitated as a perfectly white gelatinous mass. This is dried by prolonged exposure to the air.-Phar. Centralb., February 17, 1881, p. 85.

STYRACE.

Alstonia constricta (Australian Alstonia Bark)-Alkaloidal Constituents.-O. Hesse has made a re-examination of this bark, and has separated and described three alkaloidal constituents, viz., alstonina (syn. chlorogenia), porphyrina, and alstonidina.

Alstonina, freshly precipitated, is readily soluble in chloroform, but less readily when previously dried; it dissolves also readily in alcohol, but sparingly in ether, particularly in the dried form. Its bydrate