Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume Ii Part 183

=QUARTZ.= Pure native silica. It is an essential const.i.tuent of granite and many other rocks. Its crystalline, transparent varieties, are known as rock crystal. See GLa.s.s, POWDER, &c.

=QUa.s.s.= _Syn._ POSCA VENALIS, L. _Prep._ Mix rye-flour and warm water together, and keep the mixture by the fireside until it has turned sour.

Used as vinegar in Russia.

=QUAS'SIA.= _Syn._ QUa.s.sIA (Ph. L., E., & D.; QUa.s.sIA LIGNUM, QUa.s.sIA WOOD, B. P.). The "wood of _Picraena_ (_Picrasma_) _excelsa_, Lindl." (B.

P., Ph. L.), or _Jamaica qua.s.sia_; and also of the "_Qua.s.sia amara_, Linn." (Ph. E.), or _Surinam qua.s.sia_. The latter is the original qua.s.sia, but it is no longer imported. Qua.s.sia is characterised by its intense bitterness. It is reputed tonic and stomachic, a.s.sisting digestion, and giving tone and vigour to the system. Its name was given to it by Linnaeus, in honour of a negro slave who had long employed it as a remedy for the malignant endemic fevers of Surinam. When sliced, it forms the 'qua.s.sia chips' of the shops. It is generally taken in the form of infusion. This last, sweetened with sugar, forms a safe and effective poison for flies.--_Dose_ (in powder), 10 to 20 gr.

ROASTED QUa.s.sIA, reduced to powder, is largely employed, instead of hops, to embitter porter; and the unroasted powder is used for the same purpose in the adulteration of the bitter varieties of ale.

=QUAS'SIN.= _Syn._ QUa.s.sITE, QUa.s.sINA. A peculiar bitter principle, obtained by precipitating decoction of qua.s.sia with milk of lime, evaporating the filtrate, dissolving the residue in alcohol, treating with animal charcoal, again evaporating, dissolving in water, and crystallising. 8 lbs. of qua.s.sia chips yield 1 drachm.

=QUEEN'S BLUE.= Thumb blue. See BLUE.

=QUEEN'S MET'AL.= A species of pewter used for teapots, &c., made by fusing under charcoal a mixture of tin, 9 parts, and antimony, bis.m.u.th, and lead, of each 1 part; or, tin, 100 parts; antimony, 8 parts; copper, 4 parts; bis.m.u.th, 1 part. See BRITANNIA METAL and PEWTER.

=QUEEN'S YEL'LOW.= Subsulphate of mercury.

=QUERCITRIN.= The bark of the _Quercus tinctoria_ yields a neutral substance, to which the above name has been given. Quercitrin may be prepared as follows by the process of Rochleder:--The bark is boiled with water, the decoction is left to cool, and the impure quercitrin which separates is collected, then rubbed to a pulp with alcohol of 35 B., heated over the water bath, collected on linen, and pressed, whereby the princ.i.p.al impurities are removed. The residue is dissolved in a larger quant.i.ty of boiling alcohol, the solution is filtered hot, and water is added to it until it becomes turbid, so that the greater part of the quercitrin separates before the liquid is cold. It is then collected, pressed, and purified by a repet.i.tion of the same treatment.

Another process, by Zwenger and Dronke, is this:--The bark, in small pieces, is exhausted with boiling alcohol, the alcohol is distilled off, and the residue, while still warm, is mixed with a little acetic acid, and then with neutral acetate of lead; the filtrate, freed from lead by sulphuric acid, is evaporated, and the quercitrin which crystallises is purified by repeated crystallisation from alcohol.

"Hydrated quercitrin forms microscopic, rectangular, partly rhombic tablets, having their obtuse lateral edges truncated; pale yellow when pulverised. It is neutral, inodorous, tasteless in the solid state, bitter in solution, permanent in the air."[125]

[Footnote 125: Watts.]

=QUER'CITRON.= The bark of _Quercus nigra_ or _tinctoria_, a species of oak indigenous in North America. With alum mordants it yields a very permanent yellow dye.

=QUER'CITRON.= A yellow dye stuff, composed of the shavings and powder of the bark of _Quercus tinctoria_, or _Q. nigra_, or _Q. citrina_, a kind of oak, a native of North America. It abounds more particularly in Pennsylvania, Carolina, and Georgia.

In America quercitron is used for tanning, and in Europe for dyeing only.

When employed for the latter purpose it is used in the form of an aqueous decoction, mordanted with alum or chloride of tin. Leesching states that a dye possessing greater colorific powder may be procured by boiling the bark with dilute sulphuric or hydrochloric acid.

=QUICK'SILVER.= See MERCURY.

=QUILLAI BARK.= _Syn._ QUILLAY BARK, SOAP BARK. The _Quillaya saponaria_, from which yields this bark, is an evergreen tree, growing in the mountainous parts of Chili, in South America.

It is believed to take its name from the native word _quillay_, which signifies to wash. The inner bark only is employed. When bruised and agitated in water it imparts a lather to the water, in the same way that soap does. This quality has been found to be due to the existence in the bark of _saponin_--the same principle which confers a similar property on _Saponaria officinalis_. The bark is free from any bitter principle, as well as from tannic acid. It is very generally used amongst the inhabitants residing on the western side of South America, where it is employed for removing grease from silk, and also in the form of a wash for cleansing and preserving the hair.

When had recourse to for cleansing silks, quillai bark is said not to change the colour of the fabric. It is sometimes given as a febrifuge, and as a remedy for cold in the head. For this latter purpose the powder is snuffed up the nostrils, when it occasions sneezing and profuse discharge from the nose.

=QUILLS.= _Prep._ 1. The quills or wing-feathers of the goose (goose quills) are separately plunged, for a few seconds, into hot ashes, cinders, or sand, of a temperature about equal to that of boiling water, after which they are sc.r.a.ped with a blunt knife, strongly rubbed with a piece of flannel or woollen cloth, and gently 'stoved,' they are, lastly, tied up in bundles by women or children. A yellow tinge is often given to them by dipping them for a short time into dilute hydrochloric or nitric acid, or into an infusion of turmeric.

2. Suspend the quills in a copper over water sufficiently high to nearly touch the nibs; then close it steam tight, and apply three or four hours'

hard boiling; next, withdraw the quills, and dry them, and in 24 hours cut the nibs and draw out the pith; lastly, rub them with a piece of cloth, and expose them to a moderate heat in an oven or stove. Quills prepared in this way are as hard as bone, without being brittle, and nearly as transparent as gla.s.s. Crow quills and swan quills may be cured in the same manner.

=QUI'NA.= See QUININE.

=QUINAMINE.= _Syn._ QUINAMINA. C_{20}H_{26}N_{2}O_{2}. This alkaloid was discovered by Hesse, in 1872, in the bark of _Cinchona succirubra_, cultivated at Darjeeling, in British Sikhim.

Dr de Vrij gives the following process for the preparation of quinamine:--The mixed alkaloids obtained from the red bark are converted into neutral sulphates, and the solution treated with Roch.e.l.le salt, whereby the tartrates of quinine and of cinchonidine are separated. After collecting these upon a filter the filtered liquid is shaken with caustic soda and ether. By this process the amorphous alkaloid and the quinamine are dissolved by the ether, with slight traces of cinchonine, whilst the bulk of this last alkaloid remains undissolved. After distilling the ethereal solution the residue is transformed into neutral acetate, and the solution of this mixed with a solution of sulphocyanate of pota.s.sium.

By this reaction the sulphocyanate of the amorphous alkaloid is precipitated in the shape of a yellow, soft, resinous substance, whilst the sulphocyanate of quinamine remains dissolved. After subsiding and filtering, the solution is clear and quite colourless, and by addition of caustic soda the quinamine is precipitated. It is then collected upon a filter, washed, and dried. It can now easily be obtained crystallised by dissolving it in boiling spirit, from which it crystallises in cooling. By this process the author obtained 038 per cent. of pure quinamine from samples of red cinchona quill bark, which he had received, through the Secretary of State for India, from the plantations in British Sikhim.

=QUINCE.= _Syn._ CYDONIA, L. The fruit of _Cydonia vulgaris_, or common quince tree. Its flavour in the raw state is austere, but it forms an excellent marmalade (quince marmalade), and its juice yields an agreeable and wholesome wine. The seed or pips (cydoniae seminae; cydonium--Ph. L.) abound in gummy matter, which forms a mucilage with water, and possesses the advantage of not being affected by the salts of iron or alcohol. See DECOCTION, FIXATURE, and JELLY.

=QUINETUM.= The alkaloids contained in the East Indian red bark (_Cinchona succirubra_) consist of a large percentage of cinchonidine, cinchonine, quinine, and amorphous alkaloid, besides a trace of quinidine, the preponderating alkaloid being cinchonidine.

Dr de Vrij, of the Hague, has devised a process by which these can be extracted in their entirety, and to the mixed alkaloids so obtained the name 'quinetum' has been given.

It is affirmed of quinetum that it possesses a remedial value as a tonic and antiperiodic that renders it, in many cases, superior to quinine, ague being one of these; also that it may be advantageously employed in affections in which quinine would be inadmissible. A medical correspondent informs us that he has used it with signal success in hay asthma. Another advantage it has over quinine is, it is much lower in price. Quinetum, according to Dr de Vrij's process, as well as a sulphate and hydrochlorate, are prepared by Mr Whiffen, of Battersea.

=QUINICINE.= An alkaloid obtained in 1853 by Pasteur, by exposing quinine or quinidine, under favorable circ.u.mstances, to a temperature varying from 248 to 266 Fahr., for several hours. It is very probable that this alkaloid is either identical, or in very close connection, with the amorphous alkaloid soluble in ether which occurs in all barks, and particularly in the young barks of the plantations in India.

=QUINIDINE.= C_{20}H_{24}O_{2}N_{2}.2Aq. _Syn._ QUINIDIA, CONCHININE, &c.

An alkaloid contained in many species of cinchona, together with quinine and cinchonine, and therefore often found in the mother liquors of quinine manufactures. It is identical with the quinine of Van Heyningen, and was discovered, in 1833, by Henry and Delondre. As the cinchonidine discovered by Winckler, in 1848, has been unhappily denominated quinidine by this chemist, there is still a confusion about these alkaloids, and, therefore, the quinidine of commerce was very often a mixture of both, till Pasteur made, in 1853, a cla.s.sical investigation of this matter. He maintained the name of quinidine for the alkaloid discovered by Henry and Delondre, because it is isomeric with quinine, and gives the same green colour when treated with chlorine followed by ammonia, and gave the name of cinchonidine to the alkaloid discovered by Winckler, because it is isomeric with cinchonine. He determined also the action of the solutions of these alkaloids on the plane of polarisation, and found that the quinidine turned this plane to the right, its molecular rotation in alcoholic solution being [_a_] = 25075 ?, whilst he found that the cinchonidine turned this plane to the left, its molecular rotation in alcoholic solution being [_a_] = 14461 ?.

_Prop. &c._ Many of the salts of quinidine are very similar to those of quinine, but the normal salt with hydriodic acid is not only very different from that of quinine, but also from those of all the other cinchona-alkaloids. The normal hydriodate of quinidine is so very sparingly soluble in water that 1 part requires, at 60 Fahr., not less than 1200 parts of water to be dissolved. Therefore the presence of sulphate of quinidine in the sulphate of quinine, which often occurs, either from that article being carelessly made or from wilful adulteration, can be easily detected by adding a few minims of solution of iodide of pota.s.sium to the saturated solution of sulphate of quinine in water of 60 Fahr., whereby, if quinidine is present, its hydriodate will be separated either in the shape of a sandy precipitate or, if only traces are present, in the shape of striae on the sides of the gla.s.s where this has been rubbed by a gla.s.s rod.

For an account of its medicinal properties, the reader should consult the recent report from India upon the experiments made there by order of Government with all the four cinchona-alkaloids, which experiments are very favorable to the therapeutical action of quinidine compared with that of quinine.

=QUININE.= C_{10}H_{12}ON. _Syn._ QUINA, QUINIA. Till recently it was found in the greatest quant.i.ty in good Calisaya bark, particularly in that from Bolivia, but since it has been found in great quant.i.ty in some other barks, especially in the bark of _Cinchona officinalis_, for instance, in the bark of that species grown in Ceylon. Red bark contains not only quinine and cinchonine, but also cinchonidine.

_Prep._ 1. By precipitating a solution of sulphate of quinine with a _slight_ excess of ammonia, pota.s.sa, or soda, and washing and drying the precipitate. By solution in alcohol, sp. gr. 815, and spontaneous evaporation, it may be procured in crystals. Crystals may also be obtained from "its solution in hot water with a little ammonia." (Liebig.)

2. (Direct.) By adding hydrate of lime, in slight excess, to a strong decoction of the ground bark made with water acidulated with sulphuric acid, washing the precipitate which ensues, and boiling it in alcohol; the solution, filtered while hot, deposits the alkaloid on cooling.

_Prop., &c._ Quinine, when prepared by precipitation, is an amorphous white powder, but when this precipitate is left in the liquor it a.s.sumes, after some time, the appearance of aggregated crystalline needles; when slowly crystallised from its solution, these needles are remarkably fine, and of a pearly or silky l.u.s.tre. It is freely soluble in rectified spirit and in ether, and of all the cinchona-alkaloids it is the most soluble in ammonia. It is upon this fact that Kerner's method for testing the purity of sulphate of quinine is founded. Its normal salts, if dissolved in water, have a slightly alkaline reaction upon red litmus paper. It is only sparingly soluble in water, even when boiling; both the fixed and volatile oils dissolve it with the aid of heat, more especially when it has been rendered anhydrous, or is presented to them under the form of an ethereal solution. It fuses by a gentle heat, without decomposition; forms crystallisable salts, which are only slightly soluble in water, unless it be acidulated, and, like the pure alkaloid, are extremely bitter, and possess much of the characteristic flavour of cinchona bark. It is precipitated by the alkalies and their carbonates, by tannic acid, and by most astringent substances.

_Pur._ See QUININE, SULPHATES OF, and QUINOMETRY (_below_).

_Tests._ Quinine is recognised by--1. Its appearance under the microscope.--2. Its solubility in ether, and in pure ammonia water.--3.

Its solubility in concentrated nitric acid, forming a colourless liquid, which does not become yellowish until it is heated.--4. The solubility of itself and salts, when pure, in concentrated sulphuric acid, forming colourless fluids, "which do not acquire any coloration upon being heated to the point of incipient evaporation of the sulphuric acid, but which afterwards become yellow, and finally brown." (Fresenius.)--5. Its solubility in concentrated sulphuric acid to which some nitric acid has been added, forming a colourless, or, at the most, only a faintly yellowish liquid.--6. It is wholly destroyed by heat.

A solution of quinine in acidulated water, and solutions of its salts, exhibit the following reactions:--1. Ammonia, pota.s.sa, and the alkaline carbonates, give white, pulverulent precipitates, becoming crystalline after some time (see _above_), and which are soluble in ammonia in excess, and which, when ether is added after the ammonia, and the whole is agitated, redissolve in the ether, whilst the clear liquid, on repose, presents two distinct layers.--2. Bicarbonate of soda (avoiding excess) gives a similar precipitate, both in acid and neutral solutions of quinine, either at once or after a short time. The precipitate is soluble in excess of the precipitant, and is again precipitated from the new solution upon protracted ebullition. "Vigorous stirring of the liquid promotes the separation of this precipitate." (Fresenius.)--3. If recently prepared chlorine be added to it, and then ammonia, a beautiful emerald-green colour is developed. (Ph. L.)--4. A concentrated solution of ferrocyanide of pota.s.sium being added, in excess, after the chlorine, instead of the ammonia, a dark red colour is instantly produced, which after some time pa.s.ses into green, especially when freely exposed to the light. This reaction is not characteristic of quinine, for with quinidine one gets the same reaction.--5. If caustic pota.s.sa be used instead of ammonia (see _above_), the solution acquires a sulphur-yellow colour.

"These reactions are restricted to this alkaloid." (Dr Garrod.)

Fluckiger[126] says;--"The most characteristic test for ascertaining the presence of quinine is the formation of the splendid green compound called _thalleiochine_, which is produced if solutions of the alkaloid or its salts are mixed with chlorine water, and then a drop of ammonia added."

[Footnote 126: In 'Jahrb. f. Pharm.,' April, 1872, 136 ('Ph. Journ,', 3rd series, ii, 901).]

If one part of quinine is dissolved in 4000 parts of acidulated water, and then about 1/10 of the volume of the liquid, of chlorine water, and a drop of ammonia added, a green zone will be readily formed if the liquids are cautiously placed in a flask without shaking.

If the solution of quinine contain no more than 1/5000, the green of one may still be obtained, but in more diluted solutions the success becomes more and more uncertain.

From a practical point of view we may state that 1/5000 of the alkaloid is the smallest quant.i.ty whose presence can thus be discovered with certainty; Kerner (1870) has succeeded with 1/20000 but I was not able to corroborate this statement.

The author was also induced to try the action of bromine in place of chlorine. The _thalleiochine_ is then, indeed, produced in solution which contain only 1/20000 of quinine.