The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-01-28
A OUlNlNE FAMINE
is THREATENED

much longer where are the people OF
the United States to get their usual
supply of quinine? At the breaking
on. Of the war sulphate of quinine was
selling at about 20 cents an ounce,
VIII oIesaIe A year ago it sold for
40 cents; today it is selling for $50
an ounce. When it is stated that
during the fiscal year ending June1 80.
1914, the last normal year prior to
the war, the United States imported
nearly 100000 ounces of sulphate
of quinine then valued at about $780,
600, and over 3,648,O0O pounds of
chinchona- bark valued at s464,0O0, it |
may be seen what such a difference in !
price may mean to the country.
How is the European war respOn- !
sible? Simply because Great Britain /
controls the cFlinchona bark industry |
in her possessions of India, Ceylon |
and Jamaica, and Holland the pro-
duct of Java, and these are the sec !
tons of the world which have been
furnishing practically it's supply of
qEinine, in the form of chinchona |
bark, for the last 80 or 35 years |
Great Britain is carefully husband
ing the supply of this precious specific
for the use of her armies and those |
of her allies, while the Dutch must
Be dependent upon to supply those of |
the Central Powers. Armies in the |
field need. a vastly larger supply of
of men in ordinary occupations
hence a qlinine famine for the rest
of the world. If the war con- |
tjnues, not only will the price CON !
tinue to rise but the serious question |
will be-where are we to get it at !
s1I2
Time was when certain countries of |
South America, where the chinchona |
trees originated, supplied the world, |
and the story of quinine and how it
was introduced into Europe is enter
taining1y told by Edward AIbes in
the current number of the Bulletin of
the Pan American Union, Washington, |
| D. C.. somewhat as follows:
'fOnce upon a time-278 years ago.
to be more exact-in her viceroya1
castle in Lima, Peru, lady lay i'll of a
fever. She was the Countess Ana,
wife Of the fourth Count of Chinchon
who at the time was viceroy of Peru.
News of the 1ady's illness having
reached one Don Juan Lopez de Can
ntzares, the Spanish Corregidorg of
Loxa, who dwelt SOME 23o miles south
OF Quito, in what lis now the Republic
| of Ecuador, he despatched a parcel
Of a certain kind of powdered bark to
her physician, Juan de Vega, with the
assurance that it was a. sovereign
remedy and never-faf1ing specific in
cases of interim ttent fever. He knew
| this to be true from both experience
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 Ma1a-
| cotas, who had thus revealed the
Since then he had observed its eff
fects in many other cases-so he
knew whereof he spoke! The remedy
/ was tried, and the Countess was cur
! ed. The name given by the abort
/ g1nes to the tree on which grew this
| wonderful bark was "quina-Quina.s1
SIN 1910 the Count of Chinchons re-
| turned to Spain with his wife. She
took with her q quantity of the heal
4 ing bark, and thus was the first per
/ son to introduce it into Europe. Sub
sequent1y some of the Jesuit mission
i aries in Brazil sent parcels of the
4 powdered bark to Rome, whence it
| was distributed by the CARDINAL de
Lugo to other members of the fra
Eternity throughout Europe. It was
1 therefore often called .tJesuits' bark
| and sometimes '-CardinaFs/ bark
i Something over a hundred years af-
i ter the Countess Of Chinchon- had in
| troduced It into Spain, Linnaeus, the
great Swedish botanist, in making his
remarkable classification of all
| known trees and plants, to comment
orabe the, service rendered to mankind
by that lady. named the genus which
+ yields the bark Chfnchona, and sub
sequently still further inmorta1ized
j the name by giving it to the great
i family of trees and plants now known
as the Chinchonaceae, which includes
not only the Chinchonae but also the
i ipecacuanas and the coffees"
4 In their native habitat, in Peru,
II Ecuador Bolivia and Colombia, the
trees flourish in a cool and equab1e
/ temperature, on the slopes and in the
! valleys and ravines of the mountains
surrounded by the most majestic
scenery, never descending below an
elevation Of $500, and ascending as
high as 5000 feet above the sea. When
in good soil and under favorable cir
4 cunlstances. they become large forest
4 trees; on the higher elevations and
when crowded and growing in rocky
ground, they frequently run up to,
/ great heights without a, branch; and
at the upper limit of their zone they
| become mere shrubs. The leaves in
the finest species are 1a1lceoIa1e with
| a, shining surface of bright green
traYersed by crimson VEINS and
| petio1es of the same color. The flow
erS are small and hang in clustering
panicles, like 1ilacs, generally of a
deep roseate color, pa1er near the
| stalk dark crimson within the tube
| with curly hairs bordering the lacin-
lac of the coro11a, and give forth a
! delicious fragrance.
| About 55 years ago Sir Clements
| Markham. the English scientist and
traveller, succeeded in securing a guam
| tIty of seeds and plants of the vari-
| GUS valuable species of the chin
chonaceae, which were taken to In
dia for the purpose of starting chin
| chonas plantations. Marked success
followed the experiment, and subse-
quent1y plantations were started in
Cey1on and Jamcica. The Dutch were
successful in their efforts in lava. The
plantation product drove out the for