tage. This he found could be readily accomplished by placing the woman on her knees and elbows with the head down upon the bed, thus inverting the uterine axis.-Medical Times and Gazette.

Materia Medica and Chemistry.

EAST INDIAN QUININE

The efforts made by the Indian Government to introduce the Cinchona plant in India and Ceylon are detailed in a voluminous blue book lately presented to Parliament. It contains no less than ninety-four reports and letters respecting the efforts made to extend the cultivation of this valuable plant on the Neilgherry Hills, in Wynaad, Coorg, and Travancore, with a goodly number of reports, showing that the ground has been laid for cinchona cultivation in Sikkim, the Punjaub. Bombay, and Ceylon. There is also a very interesting journal by Mr. Cross, who was commissioned by the Indian Government to make a collection of seeds from the cinchona forests near Popejan, in South America.

It appears that in 1861 the Government of Madras desired the Home Government to have an analysis made of the East Indian bark, and a number of specimens were collected and sent over by Mr. McIvor, the superintendent of the Government plantations. Mr. John Elliott Howard, the analyst, in his report, stated, "I have great pleasure in informing you that the result of my examination of the bark of C. succirubra, grown in India, is very satisfactory. I have thus far only operated upon 500 grains, proceeding cautiously, as the quantity of bark sent is small. I find exactly the same constituents as in South American " red bark," and was able to obtain a first and second crystallization of very white sulphate of quinine mixed (as is usual when obtained from red bark) with sulphate of cinchonidine; I have also obtained some cinchonine. This must be considered very satisfactory, and a promising result when the immature age of the bark is considered" (viz., two years' growth). On this favourable report the superintendent was authorized to sell 100,000 plants, which were all speedily applied for by the native planters. A second collection of samples was sent to Mr. Howard for his report which was still more favourable. He wrote:

"I have since devoted most careful attention to ascertain by experiment the probable market value, especially of the first two samples of bark sent. It will not be necessary for me to detail the various means by

which I succeeded in convincing myself, not only of the existence of the alkaloids, but of their being extant in such a state of purity as is certainly not found in the ordinary samples of red bark imported from South America. The result of my examination tended to show distinctly that cultivation has improved the produce of at least this species of cinchona.

“I must remark that the commercial value of specimens of bark intended for the manufacturers of sulphate of quinine can never be ascertained by the mere knowledge of the percentage of alkaloid soluble in ether, since it is necessary that this should be shown to exist in such a state as to crystallize with acids into the required compounds.

"In this case of No. 1, the bark from the thickest part of the lower branches of a C. succirubra, two years and five months old, this examination was most satisfactory, confirming that which I stated in my first report as to the facility with which the alkaloids were obtained in a state of purity, although the amount of red colouring matter in the bark is very great. The amount of purified alkaloids I estimated at 6 per cent., consisting of quinine 3·14 cinchonidine 2.06, cinchonine 0.80. This large product of alkaloids might probably be still further increased by surrounding the stem with moss, in the manner which Mr. McIvor has so happily suggested, since Dr. De Vry found 8.409 per cent. of alkaloids, in a stem which had been so treated. It seems to me, from this trial, that the East Indian bark, the produce of C. succirubra, will rival in price the Bolivian Calisaya, which is by no means the case with the bark of the branches of C. succirubra, as grown in South America. It is important to remark, that the very high price of between 8s. and 9s. which has quite recently been paid for red bark in this market, applies only to those pieces of bark from the trunk of the tree which possesses, from their age, a peculiar bright red appearance. I have forwarded a small vial with commercial sulphate of quinine obtained from this No. 1, as also sulphate of cinchonidine separate from the above. I. have only to remark further on this bark, that its appearance bespeaks its good quality, and that there can be no doubt the season chosen (24th of February) is most favourable to its being well secured.”

Mr. McIvor, the superintendent of the plantations, appears to have tried the plan of mossing the bark of the plant in order to increase the deposit of the quinine therein, and wished to secure it to himself by patent, but the Government were of opinion that as it was invented in the course of his official duty, it would be a bad precedent to adopt. The experiments made by Mr. Clements to Markham proved, however, that the plan was extremely beneficial; he states that a tree two and a

half years old yielded alkaloids of 2.43 per cent., but 5.20 when mossed for a year. These results, he states, gives us the certainty that the correct method of treating the cinchona trees is to cover the stems with moss, to remove the bark periodically, to renew the bark by mossing the stem, and to allow the tree to continue growing until it attains its utmost size. Dr. De Vry told Mr. Markham that with muriatic acid and caustic soda he treated the green bark and produced a fine powder consisting of all the febrifuge alkaloids of the bark, which will practically be as efficacious as the expensive sulphate of quinine.

From a return included in the report, it appears that the number of plants on the Neilgherry Hills, which at the beginning of 1863 were a little over 100,000, in May of the present year exceeded 1,100,000. In the other districts mentioned in the list the same activity is manifested. From Ceylon Mr. Markham reports that the coffee growers have taken to the cultivation of the cinchona in a hearty manner as many as fifty planters having applied for plants, of which 180,000 have been distributed, the manager of a large estate belonging to Rothschild being the foremost amongst them.

It also appears that Government have ordered new roads to be made especially for the use of the districts in India where this plant is being cultivated, and there can be little doubt that the supply will be greatly increased, as the cultivation of the plant is rapidly extending.-Chemist and Druggist.

Miscellaneous.

PRODUCTION OF THE SEXES AT WILL.

The following is a very brief extract, condensed from the American Journal of Science and Arts, for July, 1864, and January, 1865, of an important memoir of M. Thuny, of Geneva, and of an account of some experiments of MM. Coste and Gerbe, on the Law of the Sexes. The original memoir of M. Thuny was published in the Biblothèque Universelle, in 1863.

This investigator was first led to his conclusions by the following well known facts:-1st. The fundamental or morphological identity of the sexes. From this he concludes that the difference of the sexes is due to slight differences in the process of the development of the ovum in its earliest stages. 2nd. That in plants (those which are unisexual), the character of the sex may be controlled by the management of external agents. 3rd. That, according to Huber, the ova of the Bees, if fecundated early, produce workers (females), whilst if fecundation be

retarded until the twenty-second day, all the eggs deposited produce males.

For these reasons M. Thuny concludes that the sex is determined previous to fecundation, or rather by the maturity of the ovum at the moment of fecundation.

If no fecundation takes place, the development is arrested at a certain stage, and the ovum perishes; but if fecundation occurs, there is a new accession to life's force, which suffices to carry it through all stages of embryonic and extra-uterine life.

Now, according to M. Thuny, during the earlier stages of the antefecundation history of the ovum, the sex is female; but, if the development continues without fecundation, it becomes male. By impregnation the sex is fixed for ever.

In uniparous mammalia the ovum leaves the ovary at the beginning of each rutting period in a very immature condition, and passes slowly through the fallopian tubes, the uterus, and finally, if unfecundated, is discharged.

Now during the whole of this slow passage, the ovum is maturing. If, therefore, fecundation takes place early in the period of heat, the sex of the embryo will be female. If later it will be male. * * * Now,

if M. Thuny is right, fecundation at the commencement of the menstrual period will produce females, and later, will produce males. He does not indicate the exact turning point.

Anxious to subject his theory to the list of disinterested experiments, M. Thuny gave minute directions to M. Cornaz, an intelligent Swiss stock-raiser, and son of the former President of the Swiss Agricultural Society. These directions were followed in twenty-nine cases, and in every case, without exception, the desired sex was produced. First, in order to propagate the breed of a very fine Durham bull, M. Cornaz wished to get heifers; he made twenty-two experiments, and got heifers every time. He then wished to get a few bulls of half breed to sell his neighbors; he made seven experiments, and got bulls every time. The great importance of the theory, if true, both in a scientific and a practical point of view-both to the physiologist and the farmer, cannot be doubted. But the history of the theory can only be accomplished by intelligent and very careful observation. The physical signs of the generative period differ in different species, and in different individuals of the same species, particularly in domestic animals. It is always well marked in wild animals, but in domestic animals it is often obscure. Close and patient observation will, however, overcome all these difficulties.-Nashville Journal of Medicine and Surgery.

Canada Medical Journal.

MONTREAL, DECEMBER, 1866.

66

The 29th section of the Medical Act for Great Britain provides the following: "If any registered Medical Practitioner shall be convicted "in England or Ireland of any felony or misdemeanor, or in Scotland "of any crime or offence, or shall after due inquiry be judged by the "General Council to have been guilty of infamous conduct in any pro❝fessional respect, the General Council may, if they see fit, direct the registrar to erase the name of such medical practitioner from the "register." Acting on this power, the General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom has recently published a list of delinquents with the causes which gave rise to the punishment inflicted on these persons. Among the number we notice the name of an individual who we believe some short time since appeared in our city, but who found Montreal too limited a sphere for his operations, and hence his stay with us cold-blooded Canadians was but short. The sentence as published against this man reads: "Samuel LeMert, for infamous con"duct in a professional respect." It is to be regretted that in Canada we have not the power to apply a wholesome check on quackery. The sooner our colleges acquire from the Legislature similar powers the better, as it is notorious that several (to the credit of our graduates they are but few) individuals in this country are living on the credulity of their fellow men. We notice by the last periodicals received from Great Britain that a trial was pending on the suit of a Dr. Hunter against the publisher of the Pall Mall Gazette for libel. Dr. Hunter may be known to several of our readers; he is described as a Canadian M.D. This is not the case; we believed he received many years ago a Governor General's license to practice in this Province; but had a salutary law, as the one above quoted, been in force, the same punishment might have been meted out, and his name struck off the roll of properly qualified practitioners, " for infamous conduct in a professional respect." The sooner the profession is roused to action inthis matter the better, roused