The Shasta courier., 1863-10-10
Qufnine.

remittent fever at Babylon, and Oliver Crom-
well was carried of by ague. A few doses
OF quinine would doubtless have saved their
lives and might have materially influenced
the course of history. But when the great
Macedonian expired, the medicinal virtues of
Peruvian bark produced by the CincLons
trees were unknown outside their native for
ests, and when our Lord Protector had
breathed his last, they were just beginning
to be known in Lendon. Since then the
value of quinine has been generally appreci-
ated. and who shall say how many valuable
lives are daily saved by its administration
In low marshy situations, where ague pre-
walls, and in the tropics, it has become in
ddispansahle. All the pluck, enterprise and
devotion Of modern explorers would, in ma
ny instances, have been completely neutral
lied by deadly climates, if it had not been
for abundantsupplies of this medicines and,
aided by the same salient agent, Europeans
have been able to plant happy homes in dis
tricts which, without this powerful aid would
have been simply their burial places.
About 4, 300, 900 pounds of bark ere i'm
ported annually into England alone. and the
yearly demand for this drug made upon the
South American Cinchoua forests, including
those of New Granada, Ecuador, Peru, and
Bolivia, is probably not below 1000, 900 lbs.
Even If this quantity were collected with due
regard for the lives of the trees producing it
which is not the case-the drain would be
enormous; but, when we consider that the
Cinchonas do not form entire forests by them
selves, but grow isolated amongst other trees
that the Glost reckless system has been and
is pursued in gathering their product, and
that this pernicious system has been followed
Tor several centuries, we cannot wonder that
whole regions formerly abounding in bark
are now stripped of it. The present high
prices for bark have induced the natives to
search the remotest parts. Wilds never be-
fore trodden by civilized man have been vis-
tied and many poor cascarillo, or bark
collector, losing his way, has laid down his
life in search of that medicine which was to
save the lives of Others
Such, however, is the recklessness pursued
in collecting bark, and the never ceasing
and daily increasing demand for it, that even
the remotest quinine- yielding forest will be
exhausted, and most valuable kinds become
as extinct as the Moas of New Zealand, or
the Dodo of Mauritius. How great will be
the distress when the supply at length fails
when the poor feyer-stricken patients have
to sigh in vain for tho sovereign remedy. and
the physicians unable to find suitable sub
stitute! Even at the time of the Spanish
dominion over South America, men like Jo-
seph de Jessieu, the Ulloas, Ruiz, Savon and
Humboldt urged the imperative necessity of
the Government taking the Cinchona forests
under its protection but nothing was done
when the revolution deprived the Crown of
CASTLE and Leon of its finest Jewels. The
Republican Governments were too reckless
and too weak to enforce any laws by which
- of ~ lu pofi 81 h,,f
Importance might be protected Meanwhile
the danger of seeing them exhausted has
approached our very door in some of our col
ones.
Quinine is nov equal in value to gold. Ere
long it will be so high in price that only the
wealthy will be able to buy it; and large
armies will have to go without it. when. at
the present time no less than f40, 900 are
spent annually to supply British India alore.
Mr.. Spruce justly said that whatever plant
is needful to man must ultimately be cult
waited by him. Nature may yield for long
aided by artificial means they will ultiEiately
fail. Convinced of this truism, the cnltiva-
ton of Cinchona trees in Europe, in the East
ard West Indies, was ADVOCATED by German,
Dutch and English men of science years ago;
but for long time their memoirs and writ
ings were ignored by men in Office, until at
last, in 1852, the Dutch Government led the
way in introducing the bark trees into Java.
Unfortunately the Dutch got hold of quite
worthless species Cinchona Rahudiuna) and
did not succeed in propagating the better
kinds; and as the whole cultivation was nc.
cessary as an experiment, they met with ma
ny disappointments and incurred great ex-
penses Nevertheless, the partial success
was SO encouraging, and the urgency of the
case SO great, that in 1859 the Secretary Of
State for India charged Mr.. Clements r.
Markham with experimenting the introduc-
ton of quinine- yielding trees into our Indian
possessions. Messrs Spruce and Pritchett,
the agents Mr.. Markham employed in other
districts, and presents Of living plants from
the Dutch Government, have enabled the
author to establish fourishing plantations in
the Neilgherry Hills, Darjeeling and Ceylon;
and in all human probability we may conf
IDENTIFY look forward to a goodly supply of
quinine and cinchona at the very time when
the South American forests are approaching
exhaustion.
The Philadelphia Gazette says that po
ri Z - L L IL l.