Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1873-02-01
CincllOna.

Its doubtful whether the aboriginal in
habitantS of Peru. Bolivia and Ecuador,
We're acquainted with the virtues of the
cinchona plant as a fcbrituge. Ii seems
probable, nevertheless. that the Indians OF
Loxa. two hundred and thirty miles south
OF Peru. We're aware of the qualities OF
the bark, for there its use was first ma !c
known to Europeans. 1t was forty years
after the pacitication OF Peru. however.
before any communication of the remedial
secret was made to the Spaniards. Joseph
de JussieU reports that in 1000 Jesuit.
who had a fever at MalacOtas. was cured
by Peruvian bark. In 1888 the countess
Ana of ChinchOn was suffering from ter
tian fever and ague at Lima, whittier she
had accompanied the viceroy, her hus-
band. The corregilor Of Loxa. Don Juan
Lopez de CaniZaZes. sent a parcel of DOW
dtreI quinquina bark to her physician.
Juan de Vega. assuring him that 1t was Il
sovereign and inftllible remedy for ter
tiana.' 1t was administered to the count
ess, who was sixty-two years of age, and
Effected a complete cure. This countess,
returning with her husband to Spain in
1G4O, brought with her a quantity of the
healing bark. Hence it was sometimes
called ''cOun.css' bark" and countess
powder" Her famous cure induce: Lin
nnus. long after, to name the whole &C.
nus of quinine-bearing trees, in her hon
or, " Cinchona." By modem writers the
first h has usually been dropped, and the
word is now almost invariably spelled in
that way, instead of the more etymologi-
cal "Chinchona.'' The Jesuits after
ward made great and effective use
Of it in their missionary expeditions.
and it was a ludicrous result of their
patronage that its use should have
been for a long time opposed by Protes-
tants and favored by Catholics. .,lG79.
Louis XIV. bought the secret Of I|fepar-
ing quinquina from Sir Robert Talboy, an
English Doctor, for two thousand
Under the Grand Monarch it was used at
dessert. mingled with Spanish wine. The
delay of its discovery until the seven
teenth century has probably lost to the
world numbers of valuable lives. Had
Alexander the Great, who died of the
common remittent fever of Babylon, been
acquainted with cinchOna bark. his death
would have been averted and the partition
Of the Macedonian empire indefinitely
postponed. Oliver Cromwell was carried
Oft by an ague, which the administration
of quinine would easily have cured. The
bigOtry Of medical science, even after its
efficacy was known and proved, for long
time retarded its dissemination. In 1726,
La Fontaine, at the instance of the lady
who owed her life to it, the countess of
Bullion, composed a poem in two cantOs
to celebrate its virtues; but the remarka-
bic beauty of the leaves of the cinchona
and the delicious fragrance of its flowers
with allusiOns with which he might have
adorned his verses, were still unknown in
Europe.
The cinchonas under favorable circum-
stances become large trees at present,
however, in any of the explored and ex-
plotted regions of their growth, the shoots
or suckers of the plants are all that re-
main. Wherever they abound they form
the handsomest foliage OF the forest. The
leaves are lanceolate, glossy and wildly
green, traversed by rich crimson veins
the flowers hang in clus ering pellicles,
like lilacs, OF deep rose-color. and fill the
vicinity with rich perfume Lip