The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-03-05
AGue's Creax Enemy.

he read with interest,-and by the by,
it has increased 80 cents in price since
the Phila. fire.
In tue year 1898. the Count OF Chin
chon held lis court in the vice-regal PAL
ace beside lie river Rimac Peru. The
count - was 9~rlevoGsly sick. Frustrated
by one OF the miserable caIe.turas of the
country an ague. which would not
yield either to the illustrations of the
physicians. or to the prayers of the
Archbishop and of all his clergy. 1t was
a serious matter, for the noble lady had
lost all her bright color. and 1as visibly
wasting TO a mere shadow of her former
self. The court doctors. the surgeon
general of the army. and the chief sur
'geons from the ships of war 1t Callao
had been summoned in frequent consul
tation, no doubt but the countess was
u the better. Some of the Older res
idents may have thought that the case
was not without hope. for it was whis-
pered abroad that there were native
remedies, sometimes in use among the
Indian slaves. by which such distem-
pers might be healed. But the situa-
ton was delicate. Spanish etiquette
was exceedingly punctilious. and when
the court doctors and the rgeon from
the army and the navy had pronounced
an opinion, who might gainsay their
doctrine?
In the midst of this dilemma the chief
magistrate of the province Of Loxa made
his appearance at court Eight years
before he had himself wrestled with this
same malignant ague. and had been
healed by the administration of a bitter
powder, procured from the Indians who
dwelt among the mountains in his pro-
vlnce. The plous monks of the convent
at Loxa, moreover, had long possessed
the secret OF this remedy, having record
ed its virtues as far back as the year
1000, when n of the brethren had
been cured at the hands of an Indian
disciple. Armed with this experience,
the cOrregidor went straight to the vice.
roy, and urged a trial of the remedy
which he had used with such advantage.
Of course this raised a commotion at
once. Out of the past we seem to hear
voices, arguing and protesting. "Pois-
onous. Why, have | not swallowed
whole handfuls of the stuff. and do |
look like a mar who has made the ac-
Iid " DOlSOu : Is lHtIc uOU d
sufficient number of slaves, upon any
me of whom the drug can be tried at a
moments notice? Have not the holy
fathers al Loxa pronounced in favor of
the remedy? Yea, verify, has not this
very package been duly blessed by the
father superior himself, before | came
from home ~ Such reasoning Overcame
all opposition. at last. The countess
received the bitter draught, and was
healed. 1t is not difficult to imagine
the triumph of the man of laws let US
draw a veil of decent sympathy yer
the features of the fashionable physi-
clans of Lima, leaving them in shadow
land to justify their ignorance and their
discontinue. No doubt they were equal
20 the occasion.
In due course of time, the Count of
Chinchon had filled his Golfers, and an
other grandee reigned in his stead. Re-
turning to his estates in Spain, the
countess carried with her the strangely
bitter powder that had made her whole.
Whenever any n OF her friends was
Frustrated with the ca!entura, she would
Orlag lo,.h her store. and would recite
The narrative OF her wonderful cure. The
pious Jesuit fathers, also, sent speci-
mems OF the medicine to the general of
their order, ~ whom it was properly in
vestigated and accredited so that dur
no the lifetime of the next generation
the substance became tolerably well
known as The ''.Jesuits' POWDER In
aristocratic circles il was commonly
called the countess powder - and al
Ter the year loo, when Cardinal Lugo
sanctioned its use in the treatment OF
malarial fevers at Rome, it was consid-
cred the proper thing among all true be-
levers To speak of it as the cardinals
powder" For the drug was not uni
versally received as the h~eaven-sent
blessing which its enthusiastic Intends
would have it appear. some OF the
most learned professors in the medical
schools of Italy decried its use. In
London it had encountered great Oppo-
sition, for the reason that it had been
introduced TO notice, not by the leaders
OF medical opinion, but by a practitioner
of inferior rank. named Tudor or Talbot.
Originally an apothecary in Cambridge.
his man had learned the value of the
newly discovered '.Jesuits' bark" n
had devised an improved method for the
exhibition Of its remedial virtues. He
removed TO London about the year 1910,
and was soon embroiled with the lead
ing physicians of that city. In those
days the privileges of the College of
Phi y~sicians were so jealousy guarded
that an ~apothecary who treated tevers
With more success than the regularly
anointed doctors was looked upon as a
wild beast. to be slaughtered without
mercy. Evelyn rec rds in his diary a
conversation with the Marquis of Nor
manly concerning the Quinquind
which the physicians would not give to
the King Charles H.. at a time when
in a dangerous ague 1t was the only
thing that could cure him (out of envy
because it had been brought into vogue
by Mr.. Tudor, an apothecary) till DR..
Short, to whom the King sent to know
his opinion of it privately, he being re-
| puted a Papist (hut who was in truth a
very honest good Christian) sent word
to the King that it was the only thing
which could ave his life, and then the
King inioin'd his physicians to give j;
TO him, which they did, aud he recov-
er'd. Being asked by this Lord why
they would not prescribe 1t. DIR. Lower
said It would spoil their practice, OIL
some such expression. and at last con
fassed it was a remedy fit only fol
Kings" According to Sti.le, the jeal
ousy excited bY the success of the de
spised apOthecary was so great that III
was obliged ITO seek the protection o
he court, and the king actually ISSUED
Il mandate to the College, forbidden:
them to modest or disturb him in hi:
practice
NM. Kn9tt OF Grassy Greek, Gran
81; he tobacco, from alava,