980

ELEMENTS OE MATERIA MF.DICA.

bark introduced into Eur

,. /gertr** 11 ’

rope. It was, probably, the bark which Horbiti* l j. in[ in eMonogr. S. 313), in 1693, denominated Cascarilla della Oja , but which Co e ' x j s tedmore correctly termed Corteza, or Caseara de Loxa. Some doubt, however, has ^in the minds of pharmacologists, whether the bark known in commerce ^j fie )jelname of Loxa bark, is identical with that formerly called by that name. Hayne 1and Kunze, Pkarm. Waarenk. i. 36) has pointed out some differences betweenbark of commerce and a bark found in Humboldt ’s collection, marked Quina ae j

of

uaiK. commerce anu a uarK luunu in numumuis collection, inarhcu *%.***" ’ctiCS ‘and which has been collected from the C. Condaminea: the peculiar character ■ t | )t -

the latterare the warty prominences, the transverse cracks, which do not form r ^!! r j| )S . ofbrowner tint of the outer surface, and a more astringent taste. In a chest ot 1 - ^ t |,ecommercial Loxa bark, Goebel found only three ounces of bark correspond!",,description here given of the true Loxa bark. , ro val

Loxa bark received the name of crown bark in consequence of its use by f j. e iifamily of Spain. In October 1804, a Spanish galley, returning from Peru , vva: ’ ar cebby our countrymen off Cadiz . Among the treasures found therein were nia "-Tlj r ex*of Cinchona bark, two sorts of which were distinguished from the others hjtn Itternal appearance and mode of packing. Two of these chests were marked j n e<l

real familie,” i. e. “ For the royalfamily," and were lined with sheet iron : they® 0 t |, r eefine quills, of thirteen inches long, tied up by means of bass into bundles °,«04 simile,inches in diameter. Von Bergen states, he received from England, in 18-4,bundles, under the name of second crown. The other sort was marked “ Pa >acorte,” i. e. “ For the royal court ” (Bergen , Monogr. S. 310). •[ 1 nii rt

Botany. — Loxa bark is undoubtedly the produce of C. Condaminea. u Bui"'(Hist, des Drog. ii. 55) examined the young barks of this species, brought '[)'boldt, and found them undistinguishalrle from Loxa cinchona. Furthermore, Co „.that a specimen of cinchona, sent over by M. Joseph de Jussieu, the colle"£ ue g | B ii-damine, as being the bark of the tree described by that celebrated academician, lslar to the crown bark of commerce. ; „n- to

Commerce. —Crown or Loxa bark is imported in serons (holding fromninety lbs.) and in chests (containing about one hundred lbs.) y

Essential Character. —Coat thin, firm ; cracks numerous, annular, traunder surface smooth ; colour cinnamon-brown (Bergen )

sixty

s vers e >

Description —Loxa or Crown bark is met with in the form of coated I.

uid s

ertb

only, neither flat nor uncoated pieces being known. These quills vary in l en S e _tbirdsix to fifteen inches ; in diameter from two lines to an inch; in thickness from 01 ^ ce ofof a line to two lines : they are both singly and doubly quilled. The outer su t |,eepidermis of this bark is characterised by numerous transverse cracks, wbic L’ ,d afine and middling quills, are often distant from each other only from one to 0 .", r? th"half lines, and frequently extend completely around the hark in the form of rirlr ’ ll f tb eedges of which, as well as of the shorter cracks, are a little elevated. In sonie o ], s err efine quills, however, these transverse cracks are hardly visible; but we ^ ien (ef i ( a"dlongitudinal furrows. On the larger quills the transverse cracks are interruj)do not form rings, and are not set so closely together. Some of the thicker q"*.^occasionally almost the roughness of a grater, and occasionally pieces are met w j B ci"ing knots or warts. The colour of the external surface of Crown bark depend s r aS th epally on that of the crustaceous lichens. Gray, or grayish-brown, may be take ^ q"i llspredominating tint: the thin quills are mostly slate, ash, or roe-gray. The lar ^L|i'" e5vary still more, and, in addition to the colours now mentioned, they are soblackish-gray, even passing, in places, into liver-brown. The inner surlace 0 ne r»lbark is smooth, with small irregular longitudinal fibres observed thereon: its ^ftb"colour is cinnamon-brown. The transverse fracture of small quills is ^en,hai a .larger and coarser ones fibrous. The powder of Loxa bark is of a deep cl ^ptef.brown colour. The odour of this bark is like that of tan ; its taste astringen >and somewhat aromatic. BB ills,

Commercial and other Varieties. — The finest, thinnest, and longer e shop 5with a short transverse fracture, form the finest or picked crown bark ot 11 aB pea r '(cortex cinchona corona electus). A somewhat larger quill, with a silvery m ( | )6ance of the epidermis, derived from the adherent crustaceous lichens, consti pledsilvery crown bark. A similar kind, but in which the external coat has a 1 jpeappearance from the whitish lichens, with the intermediate dark-brown coloepidermis, constitutes the leopard crown bark. t | ]6 prO'

Huamalies and white Loxa Cinchona, found in the serons of pale barb, are me tii" e *duce of different species of Cinchona. The young Huamalies Cinchona , s faa scalled Havannah bark, constitutes the rusty crown bark of some of our dealers-