Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1916-02-10
QU|N|NE FAMINE THREATENED
War Has Advanced Price from
20 Cents an Ounce to $1.5O.
Time Was when South America sun.
piled the Morid-Now Product II
Grown In Indis, Ceyion. ia
maicn md Java. 81

II the European war continues much
longer where are the people Of the Uni
ted states to get their usual suppiy OF
ou'rine? At the brcaking out oe tho
war snlphate Of qUnine was Selling ct
about 20 cents an ounce, wholesale A
year ago il sold for 10 cents to-day u
is selling for Sl.5o an ounce When IT.
is stated that during tho fiscal year
ending June 20, 1914. the last normal
year prior to the war the United States
imported nearly 3TOoD ounces OF sii-
phatc OF auinnc. then valued at about
s6So00, and over 3.CiS m pounds of Chin
chona bark. valued at s4sA,oOo, it may
he seen what such n difference n price
| may mean to the country
How ia the European var RESPONSE.
n'e' Simply because Great Britain con-
trois the chinchona bark Industry in
| nor possessions OF India, Ceylon and
Jamaica, and Holland tho product of
Java, and these are the sections of tha
world which have been furnishing prac-
! tcalIy its supply OF quninc, in tho
! form OF chinchora Dark Tor tho last
30 or % wears Great Britain is care
fuzzy outstanding the supply of this
precious specific for the use OF her
armies and those Of her allies. whilo
the Dutch must ne depended upon to
! supply those Of the central powers
Armies in the field need a vastly larger
supply Of Nuinine than would tho same
| number Of rner in ordinary OCCUPATIONS
hence I'll Quinine famine for the rest
Of the world. r. the war continues.
not only will the price continue 10 rise
but the serious question will be-Nhere
are we to get II all"
Time was when certain countries Of
South America, whore the chinchona
trees originated. supplied the world, and
the story Of quininc and how it was in
troduced into Europe is overwhelmingly
told by Edward Abes in the current
number OF the Bulletin OF the Pam
| American Union. Washington, p. C.,
somewhat as follows:
Once upon a time rs years ago. to he
more exact-in her viceroyal castle in
Lima Peru, a lady lay i'll of a fever
She was the Countess Ana. wife of tho
| fourth Count OF Chinchon who at the
time was viceroy Of Peru News OF tho
lady's illnesshaCing reached one Don
Juan Lopez de Cannizares. the Spanish
miles south OF Quito. in what is now
the Republic of Ecuador. he despa tched
a parcel Of a certain kind OF powder
ed bark to her physician. Juan de Vesa,
with the assurance that it was SOW
ereign remedy and a nevcr-failing spe-
! cific in cases of intermittent fever. He
knew this to be true from both ex-
perience and observation. for about
eight years prior to this event he had
suffered from a severe attack of fever
and had been cured by an old Indian OF
Malacotes. who had thus revealed the
remarkable properties of this bark.
; Since then he had observed it's effects
, in many other cases-so he knew where
of he spoke The remedy was tried,
? and the countess was cured. The name
. given by the aborigines to the tree on
which grew this wonderful bark was
"quinaquina"
| In 1910 the Count of Chinchon return
, ed to Spain with his wife. She took
with her a quantity Of the healing
bark. and thus was the first person to
introduce it into Europe. Subsequent
" some of the Jesuit missionaries in
Brazil sent parcels of the powdered
bark to Rome whence it was distrlbu-
ted by the Cardinal de Eugo to other
members of the fraternity throughout
Europe II was therefore often called
"Jesuits' bark" and sometimes "Cardi-
nails bark" Something over a hundred
Years after the Countess of Chnchon
had introduced it into Spain Linnaeus,
the great Swedish hotanist, in making
his remarkable classification Of all
known trees and plants, TO commem-
crate the service rendered TO mankind
by that lady. named The genus which
Yields the bark Chinchona, and subse-
quently still further immortalized me
name by giving it to the great family
of trees and plants now known as the
chinchonaceae, which includes not on
" the Chinconeae but also the !pecac-
'uanas and the coffees.
In their native habitat. IN Peru. Ecua-
dor Bolivia and Columbia the trees
flourish in a cool and equahle tempers-
ture. on the slopes and in the valleys
and ravines of the mountains, surround
| ed by the most majestic scenery, never
descending below an elevation of $40,
and ascending as high 1900 feet above
the sea When in good soil and under
| favorable circumstances. they oecom-
large forest trees; or the higher eleya-
tons ard when crowded and growing N
rocky ground, they frequently run W
10 great heights without branch; and
at the upper limit cf their zone they
! become mere shrubs. The leaves III
y the finest species are l2Nceoatc, with
a shining surface @: bright green t"aN-
- ersei by crimson veins, ard nelio!es
= % the same color. Tnc flowers are
y small ana hang in clustering paItcles
" like lacs. generally cf 2 deep foseate
| color, palcr near tho stalk. dark GRIM
:, son within the tube, with curly hairs
=, borderins the lacniae Of the coroNa
a and give forth e delicious fragrance
# About 50 years ago Sn Clements
S Markham. the English scientist and
n traveller. succeeded ia securing quen-
y tity of seeds AMI plants Of the NaHic@s
e valuable species "f The ohinchonaceav,
a which were taken 10 India for the
e purpose 90, starting chincrona p.a"ta-
II tions Marked success followed the
g experiment. and subsequently p.ant'-
tons were started In Ceyion and ia
u ,naica The DGtch wCro successful, IN
their efforts in Java the plantation
product drove out the forest product
from the worlds n'dl!.ets-and the
y world has depended upon these rcun-
u tries 10 supply II.