Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[merged small][ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][merged small]
[blocks in formation]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

ib.

[ocr errors]

ib.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

ib.

[ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors][ocr errors]
[ocr errors][ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors][merged small]

1. Illustrations of the Nueva Quinologia of Pavon. With Twenty-
seven Coloured Plates of Plants and their Dissections, by W.
FITCH, F.L.S.; Three Coloured Plates, containing Forty-four
Delineations of Microscopic Sections, by TUFFEN WEST, F.L.S.;
and Observations on the Barks described, by JOHN ELIOT HOWARD,
F.L.S., &c.-1862. Imperial folio.

2. Travels in Peru and India while superintending the Collection of

Chincona Plants and Seeds in South America, and their Introduc-

tion into India. By CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM. Maps and Illus-

trations.-1862.

3. Report on the Expedition to procure Seeds and Plants of the Cin-

chona succirubra, or Red Bark Tree. By RICHARD SPRUCE. Map.

-1861. pp. 111.

4. Notes on the Medicinal Cinchona Barks of New Granada, by H.

KARSTEN; and of the Cinchona Trees of Huanuco (in Peru), by

E. POEPPIG. (Translated from the German.) Pamphlet.-1861.

8vo, pp. 75.

5. Report on the Expedition to procure Seeds of Cinchona Condaminea
from the Sierra de Cajanuma, near Loxa, in Ecuador. By ROBERT
CROSS. Pamphlet, with Appendix.-1861. 8vo, pp. 44.

6. The Cultivation of the Quina Tree in Java, to the end of 1859. By
FRANZ JUNGHUHN and J. E. DE VRY. (Translated from the
Dutch.) Pamphlet. 8vo, pp. 75.

7. Gardener's Chronicle, 1862 and 1863. (Letters of Mr. CROSS.)
THERE is much of almost romantic interest in the history of the Cin-
chona barks, from the time of the original discovery of their useful
properties in the middle of the seventeenth century to the present
date. As in so many similar instances, the early history is mythical,

63-XXXII.

1

and not to be depended upon. One story sets forth that the discovery resulted from the observation, made by the natives of Peru, that the lions, or rather pumas, cured themselves of intermittent fever by gnawing the bark of the quina tree. Humboldt expresses doubts as to whether the natives had anything to do with the matter, seeing that the Indians dwelling in the valleys near Loxa, where intermittent fevers are rife, have an aversion to the quina bark. Poeppig, Spruce, and other recent travellers, give a like testimony. Mr. Spruce further tells us, that the cascarilleros, or bark collectors, and the inhabitants of Ecuador in general, have no idea of the use that is made of the bark in foreign countries, their notion being that a chocolate-coloured dye is obtained from it, and explains the repugnance of the natives to the use of the bark medicinally on the following grounds:

[ocr errors]

The inhabitants of South America, although few of them have heard of Dr. Cullen, have a theory which refers all diseases to the influence of either heat or cold, and, by what seems to them a simple process of reasoning, their remedies to agents of the opposite complexion; thus, if an ailment have been brought on by calor,' it must be cured with frescos,' but if by frio,' with 'calidos. Confounding cause with effect, they suppose all fever to proceed from calor.' Now, they consider the 'cascarilla' a terribly strong calido,' and justly; so, by their theory, which is the reverse of Hahnemann's, its use would only aggravate the symptoms of fever. Even at Guayaquil there is such a general disinclination to the use of quinine, that when physicians there have occasion to prescribe it, they indicate it by the conventional term 'alcaloide véjetal,' which all the apothecaries understand to mean sulphate of quinine, while the patient is kept in happy ignorance that he is taking that deadly substance."

So ignorant are the bark collectors even, that Mr. Spruce says they did not know whether the trees produced fruit or not.

Joseph de Jussieu mentions the fact of a Jesuit having been cured of fever by Peruvian bark as early as 1600. We owe the name Cinchona, however, or more properly Chincona, to the Countess de Chincon, wife of the Viceroy of Peru. This lady is said to have been cured of an intermittent fever, in 1638, by the use of cinchona bark, and to have introduced the drug into Spain in 1640. Hence the name "Pulvis Comitissæ," a name subsequently changed into Cardinal's or Jesuit's powder, in consequence of the drug having been introduced to the notice of Cardinal Mazarin by Cardinal de Lugo, Procurator-General of the Order of the Jesuits.

Science owes to De la Condamine and Joseph de Jussieu the first description of the cinchona tree. These travellers set out from France to South America in 1735, and from their materials Linnæus, in 1742, established the genus Cinchona. Joseph de Jussieu, after fifteen years' labour in Peru, was robbed of his collections by his servant, under the not wholly false impression that they contained valuable treasures. This termination to the toil of so many years served to deprive the unhappy botanist of reason, so that he ultimately returned to France, shattered alike in mind and body.

In 1760, the Spanish botanist, Mutis-then in New Granada-was commissioned by the Spanish Government to investigate the cinchona barks; and in 1778, Ruiz and Pavon, two well-known Spanish

« PreviousContinue »