The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1890-07-18

INV have good cause TO think Of it |
.4efully. The medical practitioners
Of temperate climates have found IN the
various preparations from the cinchons
the valuable - edies for many severe
and tryine=%S 6ses, but IN the tropics
they are simply indispensable in the treat
rnent Of malarial fever and other alice
tons common there. Quinine is also
necessity in the swamps of the South, the
new plains Of the great middle and low
lands Of the California valleys. There
are many places in California where the
people, to use their own picturesque ex-
precision, q Just live of of quininei" and
its consumption in San Francisco Is very
much larger than is generally imagined
The medicinal properties Of the cin-
chona bark have doubtless been known
for centuries to many of the Indian
tribes of both Americas, but 1t Is only
within the last $50 years that they have
been recognized by scientific Amsterdam
just 100 years before that, 1888, ac-
2esding to Clements r. Maj ss.s-ln ms I,
INC Mlts = = :. Gun vninchon' y
and having - - -,at es,s,ssirrzzs
abroad by the se-of re bark pre-
scribed by : native Peruvian. she was
wise enough to bring some Of Il home
with the intention Of distributing it
among the sick on her husbands estate in
Spain. The form in which it was then
administered was that Of the pulverized
bark, aud it was not unlikely called
countess powder, name which was re-
tanned long after the alkaloid was placed
upon the market. Afterward the species
of the tree was named cinchona, while
the medicine was called quinine, from
the native name Of the bark, quina.
It was not known until the trees were
scientifically studied which species of Gin
chona was the most valuable. Now it is
known that the genus cinchona includes
as many as thirty-six species, but only
about half dozen Of these are found
available for yield for medical purposes.
Indeed, the prominent cinchonas Of to-
day are but four in number-the crown
bark, or cinchona officinaiis, the red
bark, or succirubra; the yellow bark, or
cslissya, and the gray bark, or nitids.
Some Of the trees are more marked as the
yielders Of quinine; Others of all the
alkAloids in a mixed state.
The cinchsna tree itself is a beautiful
object, according to the descriptions
given by AIr. Howard in his elaborate
and invaluable "Quinology of the East
Indian Plantations. It has a delicate
small flower in close clusters, and at
certain seasons its fragrance fills the air
for considerable distance. The leaf
forms vary considerably in the different
species, from form approaching to
heart-shaped to a purely isnce-headed
figure. In their native habitat the Gin
chona trees all grow at height Of from
2500 TO 5000 feet above the level Of the
sea, and in an eaQb but comparatively
cool climate, III the thermometer
ranging from about forty-two to a little
under seventy degrees.
The cascarilleros or bark collectors of
South America spend their whole lives
in the woods, and have been known to
lose themselves never to be heard of again.
The trees grow on the sides Of the
mountains or in ravines between the
mountains. The scenery is described by I
travellers in that region as magnificent
but terrible. The deep indigo of the
sky, with the icy peaks of the Andes
clearly defined against it, fill the higher
portion of the picture, while below are
narrow gorges down which rush
glittering cataracts and across which
are hung slender bridges made
OF rope and twisted branches of
trees These bark hunters thought
only Of present gain and cared
nothing for the future. They
therefore stripped the trees standing,
and the consequence was that as soon as
they were deprived of their bark they
were attacked by myriads Of insects,
which soon killed them. No measures
were ever taken either by the owners of
public OF private forests to secure sup
plies BY any conservaucy or replauting.
When the cascarilleTos came upon tree
which had accidentally been thrown
down, so great was their earrlessness that
they would actually strip the upper side
Of its bark without taking the trouble to I
turn over the trunk. Under this I
method It was inevitable that the
area Of supply would, in course of /
time, soon become seriously mar
rowed. This was the fear that set the
scientific men Of the whole world TO look /
Tor more economical methods of barking /
At fTst the method employed in India /
for barking was 10 cut down the tree /
very near the ground, when a rapid /
growth OF young wood Immediately !
sprang up, and in the course OF i've or
six years the saplings were ready to be
felled again. A still better method was /
the s'mossing process which is nov in
use. About year or eighteen months
before the bark is ready for removal, the |
trunk Of the tree IS covered with a
thick layer Of common tree moss, being
fixed in position with twisted bark
till it becomes attached by natural
adhesion to the tree. When the
eighteen months have expired the
moss is removed and the bark
cut of in longitudinal strips about
two inches wide, and from
point as high up as can be conveniently
i,7lci,s7-r.- 49, 49, . 8 IT, !
strips a strip Of bark is left to carry on
the circulation Then the moss is again
applied 20 the trunk and kept moist, BY
which mans the decorticated intervals
are kept uninjured. At the end Of six
months or more the bands Of bark left
untouched at the first stripping are re-
moved and the spaces messed. At the
end Of twenty months, on an average, the
spaces occupied by theribbons first taken |
of are found to be covered with renewed |
bark much thicker than the natural bark
Of the same age, and this renewed bark /
can be removed and fresh renewal again |
be fostered by the moss.
On being taken from the trees the
bark is laid to dry in rough sheds fitted
with open shelves When it has been
dried as far as is possible without arti-
fetal heat, it is carried of to the drying
house, heated with charcoal fires, whence
4 can be sfeiz without aanu9 Il
4i1e sd5s;..s:;ssl Fifti,e u the tazi, de.
pend % he lIfzssisfo n oas 81 more ii
i6ur aikaioid qtinisdt.ss.
cinehoniue aud cinrhaiidide All 81