Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/796

original bark, but that it even develops principles altogether absent in the natural bark.

The officinal barks of the British Pharmacopœia are three in number:—(1) the pale or Loxa bark (cortex cinchonæ pallidæ) yielded by Cinchona officinalis; (2) the yellow, royal, or Calisaya bark (cortex cinchona flavæ), the produce of C. Calisaya; and (3) red bark (cortex cinchonæ rubra) derived from C. succirubra. These are the sources of the tinctures, extracts, and other preparations of pharmacy, while, in common with several others, they also yield the alkaloids which now constitute the chief form in which the active principles of the barks are administered in medicine. Among the other barks used as sources of quinine, &c., the principal are—the ashy crown bark, C. macrocalyx; Carthagena bark, C. lanceolata; Columbian bark, C. lancifolia; Pitayo bark, C. pitayensis; grey or Lima bark, C. micrantha, C. nitida, and C. peruviana.

Leaving out of view certain alkaloids unimportant as yet in a commercial view, and found very sparingly in particular barks, the four primary alkaloids yielded by cinchona barks are quinine, quinidine, cinchonine, and cinchonidine. Certain secondary alkaloids are developed by chemical treatment of these primary principles, and an amorphous substance precipitated from the mother liquors of the quinine manufactured under the name of quinoidine is in considerable medicinal use. Much confusion has arisen in the terminology of the alkaloids by the application of the same name to chemically distinct principles, and by the converse description of the same alkaloids or products under different names. It is found that different barks derived from the same species vary greatly in richness in alkaloids, and that equally great fluctuations occur in the relative proportions of the various principles they yield. When a comparison is instituted among the barks of different species the variations are of course even more marked,—some barks having been found to yield as high as 13 per cent. of alkaloids, while in others not a trace has been obtained. Certain barks, however, are known as a rule to contain quinine in largest proportion, and in others cinchonine is the most abundant principle. Generally quinine is the most constant and abundant constituent, after which cinchonine, then cinchonidine, while quinidine is the rarest both in proportion and in frequency of occurrence of the principal alkaloids.

The preparation of cinchona bark most extensively employed in medicine is the alkaloid quinine in the form of a sulphate. As the barks from which it is extracted contain besides proportions of one or other of the principal alkaloids above enumerated, a demand for any of them might be supplied without interfering with the production of quinine, and as they also have been proved to be potent febrifuges their non-utilization is a regrettable waste. From the record of an extensive series of experiments instituted by the Indian Government it is demonstrated that quinidine is even more active than quinine, and it forms the principal constituent of a variety of calisaya bark in extensive cultivation in Java. Cinchonidine is only a little less powerful in its febrifugal effect than quinine, and it is abundantly formed by the red bark cultivated in British India. Cinchonine, although the least potent, is an abundant principle, and still a highly valuable and efficient remedial agent.

(j. pa.)

CINCINNATI, an important city of the United States, situated in the S.W. part of Ohio, on the N. bank of the Ohio River, in 39° 6′ N. lat. and 84° 26′ W. long. It is the capital of Hamilton county, and in size is the first city in the State, while, according to the Federal census of 1870, it is the eighth in the United States. It was first settled in 1788 by persons from New Jersey, and is said to have been named in honour of the Cincinnati Society of officers of the Revolutionary war. It was incorporated as a city in 1814, and soon acquired a commercial importance which has steadily increased. In 1800 Cincinnati contained but 750 inhabitants. The population amounted to 9602 in 1820, 46,338 in 1840, 115,436 in 1850, 161,044 in 1860, and 216,239 in 1870. Of the total population in 1870, 79,612 were foreigners, including 49,448 born in Germany, 18,624 in Ireland, 3526 in England, and 2093 in France. The city is chiefly built upon two terraces or plateaus, the first 60 and the second 112 feet above the river. Beyond these rises an amphitheatre of hills from 400 to 450 feet high, from which may be obtained a magnificent view of the valley of the Ohio and the surrounding country. On the opposite bank of the river, in the State of Kentucky, are Covington, which had 24,505 inhabitants in 1870, and Newport, which had 15,087. Communication between these cities and Cincinnati is afforded by two bridges and three steam ferries. The wire suspension bridge, which is 1057 feet long between the towers (or, including the approaches, 2252 feet), with a height of 100 feet above low water, was completed in 1867 at a cost of nearly $2,000,000. It has a double waggon road, and two ways for pedestrians. Further up the river is a wrought iron railroad bridge built upon piers; besides a railway track, it has waggon and foot ways. Cincinnati covers an area of 24 square miles, extending along the river about 10 miles, with an average width of 3 miles. The most important part of the city, however, is comprised within a distance of 2$\scriptstyle {\frac {1}{2}}$ miles along the river. The corporate limits have been much extended in recent years by the annexation of numerous villages, the most important being Columbia, Walnut Hills, Mount Auburn, and Cumminsville. In these, which still retain their former names, are seen the most costly residences and villas, with ornamental grounds embracing from 5 to 80 acres each. The city is also noted for the beauty of its suburbs and its surrounding scenery. The streets, which generally cross one another at right angles, are usually from 1$\scriptstyle {\frac {1}{2}}$ to 2$\scriptstyle {\frac {1}{2}}$ miles long, and from 50 to 100 feet wide. Many of them are lined with trees. Brick is chiefly used for buildings, with a greyish buff freestone for fronts. Business buildings are usually five and often six stories high. Cincinnati is well supplied with public parks, the largest of which, Eden, is situated on a hill in the eastern part of the city, and contains 216 acres. In Burnet Woods, recently purchased, there are 170 acres, mostly forest, on the hill north of the city. Centrally situated in the city are Washington, Lincoln, Hopkins, and the City parks, which together contain about 25 acres. One of the most attractive objects in the city is the Tyler Davidson bronze fountain which was unveiled in 1871. It was presented to the city by Mr Henry Probasco, a wealthy citizen, who named it after the late Mr Tyler Davidson, the originator of the proposal. Its cost was nearly $200,000. The design embraces fifteen bronze figures, all cast at Munich, the chief one representing a female with outstretched arms, from whose fingers the water falls in fine spray. This is the surmounting figure, and reaches a height of 45 feet above the ground. Among the most notable buildings is that of the Federal Government, built of sawed freestone in the Roman Corinthian style, with a porch of six columns; it is three stories high, with a length of 150 feet and a width of 80 feet. The county court-house, in the same style of architecture, is 175 feet square and three stories high, and has a porch with six Corinthian stone columns. The brick buildings for the city offices are 205 feet long and 52 feet wide. The city workhouse, 3$\scriptstyle {\frac {1}{2}}$ miles from the heart of the city, is a brick structure, 515 feet long and 55 feet wide, erected at a cost, including 26 acres of land, of $650,000. It