Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-04-24
DESERET EVENING NEWS.
THE cINCHOxA TREE.
STORY OF TIE BLESSED BARS THE
COUNTESS CHINcHON TOOK
10 F-I-ropt.

"
All know the virtue Of quinine
and many have good cause 10 think
Of il gratefully. The medical prac'
titioners Of temperate chimes have
found in the various preparations
from the cinchona the valuable rem
edies for many severe and trying
diseases; hut in the tropics they are
simply indispensable in the treat
ment Of malarial fever and other
affections Ct mmon there. Quinine
is also n DeceEsiiy in the South, the
new plains Of the great middle ana
the low lands Of the California val
leys. There are many places IN
California where the people, TO use
their own picturesque expression,
.sjust live or Of quinine;;- and its
consumption in San FIR nciscO is
very much larger than is generally
imagined. During the prevalence
Of the grip in the winter, now hap
PLY draw ing 10 a close, quinine was
almost regarded as a panacea-Sspe-
cially when taken with a whisky
observation-disclosures its demand
went up, not by the grain but by
the pound.
The medicinal properties Of the
cinchona bark have doubtless been
known for centuries TO many OF the
Indian tribes OF both Americas, but
1t is only within the last l50 years
that they have been recognized 10y
semitic Amsterdam. Just 100 years
before that, 1859, according to Glenn
ents X. Mark ham. in his .sAlemOir
l Of the Countess Of ChinchOn," the
wife OF n Spanish Niceroy Of Peru
returned to Europe from that coun-
try, and having been cured Of n
fever while abroad by the use Of n
tree bark prescribed by a native Pc
rIvian, she was wise enough to bring
1 some Of il home with the intention
Of distributing il among the sick on
her husbands estate ia Spain. The
form in which it was then admins
tered was that Of the pulverized
bark, and it was not unlikely called
countess powder, n name which was
retained long after the allSaloid was
placed upon the market. AfterWaId
the species OF the tree was named
cinchona, while the medicine was
called quinine, from the native
name OF the bark, quina. Some
what later some Jesuit missionaries
returned from South America,
bringing with them supplies Of the
medicine, and from this fact it was
called Jesuits bark, while yet an
other was Peruvian bark. Chemi-
cal preparations were soon made.
and their efficacy was 50 remarkable
that il was determined to introduce
the tree into Europe, where it might
be scientifically studied. In I780,
says Professor Japp. two French
men, La COndamiue and Jussien.
who were then on an exploring ex-
petition in South America, succeel-
ed with much difficulty in getting
some plants, but the whole collec-
ton was lost in a storm at SEA. In
1888, Dr. Forbes R0yle, then super
intendent Of the Botanical Gar
dens a. ScharunpOie, earnestly
urged the British government
to try the culture Of the
tree in India. aud n few plants were
secured, but they all died. Then DR..
Weddell, n well known French
botanist, made a journey 20 Bolivia
in 1915, and succeeded in bringing
back a few seeds, which were plant |
ed and grew in the JaTdin dies
Plantes in Paris. About lS55 George /
Ledger, an Englishman, accom- |
panied by a friend named Bach
house, made a bark-hunting expe- |
dition into Peru. But the expedition 1
wholly failed; Bachhouse was
murdered by the Indian bark
gatherers, who thought their /
business was going 10 be taken
away from them; all the supplies /
were stolen, all great labor was
destroyed, as well as seeds ana /
plants, and some sixty pounds
OF gold dust was missed. Moth
ing daunted, however, Ledger
sent n chinchOna expedition in |
1851 into the Bolivian wilds. This
expedition was more successful, and /
in 1855 Mr.. Ledger was enabled 70
present portion Of the seeds and
plants 10 his government for plant
ing in India, where quinine was and
is one Of the nee .Ssities Of the estab-
lishment.
Meantime the Dutch, always alive
to interests OF this kind, awoke to the
great Importance Of the cinchona
culture, and sent out BOtanist HAS,
kari 10 Peru in lS53 10 collect seeds
AMI plants. He also encountered
many difficulties and dangers in his
wanderings, had to run the gauntlet
Of the native bark gatherens, but
succeeded in getting seventy-eight
calisaya plants 10 Java.
Then in ISIS the government Of
India bestirred itself and sent an
expedition 10 Peru under charge Of
the Clements Markham quoted
above. He organized three sub-ex-
petitions b carry on their work
in Bolivia, Peru
and Ecuador, and In the wild ana |
trackless regions Of thes. countries
Markham ami his associates labored
for more than two years. Much Of
what was secured was lost by delay,
by the wantOn destruction Of the
Indians, Icy rough usage and much
but enough came safely
TO hand 70 form the beginning Of the
great cinchOna plantations Of India.
The results OF all these expeditions
we're many, valuable and various.
For more than century after Peru
Wan bark came into use it was sup
posed 10 exist only in Loxa, in tie
ancient kingdom Of Quito. Now
the quinine producing forests Of
South America are known TO lie in
4 belt stretching from 10 south lati-
tude to 10 north, following the line
Of the Andes, over an area Of more
than 1000 miles, besides which In
Iiia has several million trees in cul-
ture, Java has extensive forests Of
the trees, and successful attempts at
culture have been maize in
Jamaica, Reunion, Guadaloupe,
Brazil, the Azores and Algeria,
In the next place it was not
known until the trees were scieu-
studied which species Of
,inchona was the most valuable.
Now il Is known that the genus
,inchOna includes rs many ne thirty
tx species, but only about half )
iOzen Of these are found available
or yield-for medicinal purposes. In
Iced, the prominent cinchonas Of
oday are but four in uumber-the |
.rown bark, or cinchOna ofiicinalis;
he red bark, or succiruhra; the yell
ow bark, or calisaya, and the gray
ark, or nitida. Some Of the trees
re more marked as tie yielders of 4
'ure quinine, Others Of all the aka
bids IN n mixed state.-E.