Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-07-25
QUININE.
TIE ROMANTIC STORY OFAVAL
UABLE MEDICINE.
The Bark Cured Countess Chinchon
OF Fever in Peru, aud Shc
Brought II to the Attention
OF European Ply sicians.

various preparations from the cinchons
the valuable remedies for many severe
and trying diseases; but in the tropics
they are simply indispensable in the treat.
mcnt OF malarial fever and other niTec.
tons common there. Quiniue is also 4
necessity in the swanps of the South, tho
new plains of the great middle and low
lands of the California valleys. There
are many places III California where the
people, TO use their own picturesque cx.
preston, Just live OFF of quininc;" and
its consumption in San Francisco is very
much larger than is generally imagined
The medicinal properties Of the Gin
chona bark have doubtless been known
Tor centuries to many of the Indian
tribes OF both Americas, but il is ONLY
within the last $50 years that they have
been recognized by scientific Amsterdam.
just 100 years before that, 1899, nc
cording 10 Clements X. MariSliam in his
'Nicmoir Of the Countess Of Chinchon. -
the wife of n Spnnish Viceroy of Peru
returned to Europe from that country,
and having been cured Of a fever while,
abroad by the use OF a tree bark pre-
scrlbcd by Il native Peruvian. she was
wise enough to bring some of it home
with the intention of distributing il
among the sick on her husbands estate in
Spain. The form in which it was then
administered was that Of the pulvcrizcd
bark, and it was not unlikely called
countess powder, name which was re-
tanned long after the akaloid was placed
upon the market. Afterward the species
OF the tree was named cinchona, while
the medicine was called guinine, from
the native name Of the bark, quinn.
1t was no; 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
us 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 arc but four in numbcr-the crown
bark, or cinchona ofiicinalis, the red
bark, or succlubra; the yellow bark, or
calisaya, and the gray bark, or nitida.
Some of the trees arc more marked rs the
yieldcrs of pure quininc; others Of all the
alkaloids i'll Il mixed state.
The cinchona tree itself is Il beautiful
object, according to the descriptions
given by Mr.. Howard in his elaborate
and invaluable "Quinology Of the East
Indian Plantations" 1t has delicate
small flower in close clusters, and at
certain seasons its fragrance fills the air
for a considerable distance. The leaf
forms vary considerably in the different
species, from Il form approaching to
rt,slnpcd to Il purely lance headed
figure. In their native habitat the Gin
chona trees all grow at height OF from
$500 to 5000 feet above the level of the
sea, and i'll IN equablc but comparatively
cool climate, with the thermometer
ranging from about forty-two to Il little
under seventy degrees.
The cascarileros or bark collectors of,
South America spend their whole lives
III the woods, and have been known to
lose themselves never to bc heard OF again.
The trees grow on the sides Of the
mountains or i'll rayincs between the
FOUNTAINS. The scenery is described by
travellers in that region us 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 gorgcs down which rush
giittering cataracts and across which
are hung slender bridges made
OF rope and twisted branches of
trees. These bari. hunters thought
only of present gain and cared
nothing for the future. They
therefore stripped the trees standing,
and the consequence was that rs 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
puoiic or private forests to secure sup
plies by any conservancy or rcplanting.
When the cascgrillcros came upon a tree
which had accidentally been thrown
down, so great was their carrlessncss that
they would actually strip the upper side
OF Its bark without taking the trouble TO
turn over the trunk. Under this
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
4'i HlolC cCoIoIhiCil nlcl!lOuS oil Barking.
AT first the method employed in India
for barking WAS to cut down the tree
very near the ground,4, when rapid
growth of young wood Immediately
sprang up, and in the course of five or
six years the saplings were ready to be
felled again. A still better method was
the ''mossing process which is nov in
use. About a year or eighteen months
before the bark is ready for removal, the
trunk of the tree is covered with Il
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 off in Longitudinal strips about
two inches wide, and from a
point as high up as can be conveniently
reached. Between every two of these
strips strip of bark is left to carry on
the circulation. Then the moss is again
applied to the trunk and kept moist, by
which means the decorticated intervals
are kept uninjured. At the end of six
months Or moro tho baud, ,s lo.., r,